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Iowa DUI penalties breakdown: every component, line by line

Our Iowa DUI costs page gives the state overview. This page does the narrower job: it prices each component of Iowa Code §§ 321J.2 and 321J.17 for a first, second and third conviction, the mandatory minimums, the restricted-license and interlock route, and the reinstatement charges the state actually publishes — with no added-up total.

The first offence, component by component

Iowa calls the offence OWI — operating while intoxicated — and § 321J.2 prices the first offence as a serious misdemeanour with a mandatory floor under every component. The jail component is not less than 48 hours and up to one year in the county jail. The fine on the current published summaries of the 2024 Code is $625 to $1,250, and the court may order unpaid community service as an alternative to a portion or all of the fine. The license component is a revocation with a minimum period of 180 days, including a minimum period of ineligibility for a temporary restricted license, and § 321J.2 also assigns the offender to substance abuse evaluation and treatment, a course for drinking drivers and, where available and appropriate, a reality education substance abuse prevention programme. The evaluation, course and any treatment are delivered by approved providers at the offender's expense — required components of every Iowa sentence, but priced by the provider, not by the Code.

Iowa adds one fixed money component that most states fold into court costs: the civil penalty. A person whose license is revoked for an OWI must pay a $200 civil penalty under § 321J.17 before reinstatement, on top of the criminal fine — a small figure, but one of the few reinstatement charges in this run that a statute actually names, so it is tabled as its own line rather than buried in a total. Driving during the revocation is possible only on a temporary restricted license, and a driver who seeks one after a first conviction must install an ignition interlock in every vehicle owned or operated for the period the restricted license is issued; after a second or subsequent conviction the interlock period is one year, reduced by any restricted-license period already held. The device is leased from an approved vendor, so the restricted route converts part of the revocation into a monthly provider charge the Code requires but does not price.

Second and third offences, and what escalates

A second offence within Iowa's twelve-year lookback is an aggravated misdemeanour: imprisonment of not less than seven days and up to two years, a fine of $1,875 to $6,250 on the current published summaries, and a revocation of one year. A third or subsequent offence is a class D felony: a mandatory minimum of thirty days and up to five years, a fine of $3,125 to $9,375, and a six-year revocation — the longest standard revocation in this run, and the component that dominates a third Iowa case long after the fine is paid. The twelve-year lookback itself is a cost fact: Iowa counts prior convictions, and deferred judgments successfully completed, inside twelve years for enhancement, so a prior that would be washed out in a five- or ten-year state can still move an Iowa driver up a full priced tier, fine band and revocation period included.

Refusal, the restricted license, and reinstatement charges

Refusal is priced in license time rather than money. Under Iowa's implied-consent provisions, a driver who refuses testing generally faces a one-year revocation, rising to two years where the driver has a previous OWI-related revocation, while a failed test brings 180 days for a driver with no previous revocation and one year for a driver who has one — so for a first offender, refusing costs an extra six months of revocation compared with failing, and for a repeat offender it doubles the administrative period. Those revocations run alongside the criminal case, and reinstatement at the end of any of them requires the $200 civil penalty, completion of the evaluation and drinking-driver course, and the interlock condition where a restricted license was held. Beyond the civil penalty, Iowa publishes no single OWI reinstatement tariff: the remaining restoration costs are the provider-billed evaluation, course and treatment components described above, and this page tables the statutory fines, the civil penalty and the revocation periods rather than adding them into a statewide figure.

Sources: Iowa Code § 321J.2 (offence tiers, evaluation and course assignment, twelve-year lookback, Iowa Legislature); Iowa Code § 321J.17 ($200 civil penalty); Iowa implied-consent revocation summaries (§§ 321J.6, 321J.9). Last verified: October 2026.

What this state does not publish as a single figure

Iowa court costs and assessments are set by the court and the county or municipality where the case is heard, not by Iowa Code §§ 321J.2 and 321J.17, and no single published DUI amount covers them. The evaluation, education or treatment components described above, any probation or programme supervision, and an interlock provider's installation, monthly lease, calibration and removal charges are all billed outside the statute's fine and revocation figures. Those components are described as requirements on this page rather than priced as state charges. There is no published Iowa figure for the effect of a DUI on car insurance prices, and none is estimated here — insurance is mentioned only where a filing requirement such as SR-22 proof of financial responsibility is itself a reinstatement component.

There is no added-up statewide total on this page for the same reason: the published components above are the figures the statute, the licensing agency or the court schedule actually sets, and the remaining components are billed case by case. Adding them together would produce a number no Iowa authority has published. Use the table to price the components that apply to a specific case, and use our first-offense cost guide, second-offense guide and third-offense guide for the national pattern each component follows.

Common questions

What is the fine for a first Iowa OWI?

$625 to $1,250 on the current published summaries of § 321J.2, plus the separate $200 civil penalty under § 321J.17 that must be paid before the license is reinstated — the two are different charges from different parts of the Code.

How long does an Iowa prior count against you?

Twelve years — and a successfully completed deferred judgment counts as a prior inside that window for enhancement, which can move a new case up a full fine band and revocation tier.

How long is the revocation for a third Iowa OWI?

Six years, alongside a class D felony sentence of thirty days to five years and a fine of $3,125 to $9,375 on the current published summaries.

Sources: Iowa Code § 321J.2 (serious/aggravated misdemeanour and class D felony tiers, fine bands, revocation periods, evaluation, drinking-driver course and reality education assignment — Iowa Legislature, with fine bands as in current published summaries of the 2024 Code); Iowa Code § 321J.17 ($200 civil penalty and interlock periods); Iowa Code §§ 321J.6 and 321J.9 implied-consent failure and refusal revocations as summarised in state OWI references. Last verified: October 2026. This page is educational information about costs only — not legal advice. Laws and fees change; confirm current figures with your court and your state's driver-licensing agency.