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Tennessee DUI penalties breakdown: every component, line by line
Our Tennessee DUI costs page gives the state overview. This page does the narrower job: it prices each component of Tenn. Code § 55-10-402 for a first, second and third conviction, the mandatory jail minimums that are served day-for-day, the restricted-license and interlock route, and the Department of Safety reinstatement charges — with no added-up total.
Mandatory jail from the first offence: § 55-10-402 leaves no zero-day option
A first Tennessee DUI is a Class A misdemeanour under §§ 55-10-401 and 55-10-402 with a mandatory minimum of 48 consecutive hours in jail and a maximum of eleven months and twenty-nine days; where the concentration was 0.15 or higher, the mandatory minimum rises to seven consecutive days. The fine is $350 to $1,500, and the license is revoked for one year. The mandatory minimum is served day-for-day — no good-time or early-release credit shortens the 48 hours or the seven days — which is why Tennessee's first-offence exposure is heavier in practice than the fine range alone suggests. A restricted license is available for essential driving during the revocation, and where it is granted the court will ordinarily require an ignition interlock as a condition of the restricted driving.
A second conviction keeps the Class A misdemeanour classification but multiplies every element: a mandatory minimum of 45 consecutive days and the same eleven-month maximum, a fine of $600 to $3,500, a two-year revocation, exposure to vehicle seizure and forfeiture, an ordered alcohol and drug treatment programme, and — where two convictions fall within five years — an interlock requirement that continues for six months after the license is reinstated. A third conviction carries a mandatory minimum of 120 consecutive days, a fine of $1,100 to $10,000 and a six-year revocation, and a fourth becomes a Class E felony with a 150-day mandatory minimum. Tennessee DUI convictions cannot be expunged, so the conviction figures on this page describe a permanent record.
Refusal, the restricted license, and reinstatement charges
Refusing a lawful test request violates the implied-consent law, § 55-10-406, and brings a one-year license revocation of its own — two years with a qualifying prior — imposed by the court on the Department of Safety's certification, and it stands even if the DUI charge itself is dismissed. The refusal revocation and the conviction revocation can be ordered to run together or consecutively depending on the record. Our refusal page compares Tennessee's approach with states that treat refusal purely administratively.
Reinstatement at the end of a revocation is a Department of Safety transaction: the published schedule charges a $100 reinstatement fee, a $50 fee where the SR-22 financial-responsibility filing is required, and a $75 fee where the license was not surrendered, with SR-22 proof maintained for three years. The interlock that conditions a restricted license — and the six post-reinstatement months for repeat offenders — is installed and leased at the driver's expense by an approved vendor. Our reinstatement page, hardship license page and interlock page cover those components in detail.
| DUI component | Published amount |
|---|---|
| First offence (§ 55-10-402) | Class A misdemeanour; mandatory 48 consecutive hours, up to 11 months 29 days; fine $350–$1,500; 1-year revocation |
| First offence at 0.15+ (§ 55-10-402) | Mandatory minimum rises to 7 consecutive days |
| Second offence (§ 55-10-402) | Mandatory 45 consecutive days; fine $600–$3,500; 2-year revocation; vehicle seizure/forfeiture exposure; treatment programme ordered |
| Third offence (§ 55-10-402) | Mandatory 120 consecutive days; fine $1,100–$10,000; 6-year revocation |
| Test refusal (§ 55-10-406) | 1-year revocation (2 years with a qualifying prior), additional to the criminal case |
| Interlock | Condition of restricted driving; 6 further months after reinstatement where two convictions fall within 5 years |
| Reinstatement (Dept. of Safety schedule) | $100 reinstatement fee; $50 SR-22 filing fee where required; $75 where the license was not surrendered |
Sources: Tennessee Code Annotated §§ 55-10-401, 55-10-402, 55-10-403, 55-10-406, 55-10-417; Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security DUI outline and reinstatement fee schedule. Last verified: October 2026.
The fine is one line in a longer stack — court costs, program fees, interlock, supervision and reinstatement all bill separately. Price the layers that apply to your case in the calculator.
Open the DUI cost calculatorWhat this state does not publish as a single figure
Tennessee court costs are assessed in the convicting court and vary substantially by county, and the DUI school, alcohol assessment and any treatment programme are billed by the provider the court approves — which is why this page prints the § 55-10-402 fine ranges, the mandatory jail minimums and the Department of Safety's published reinstatement charges, and describes programme costs as requirements instead of pricing them as state charges. Probation supervision, where imposed for the balance of the sentence, is charged under the supervising authority's own schedule.
There is no published Tennessee figure for the effect of a DUI on the price of insuring a car, and none is estimated here; the state's interest in insurance is the SR-22 filing discussed above, maintained for three years. The fourth-offence felony range is identified by classification only and is deliberately not blended into the misdemeanour table above.
Common questions
- Can a first Tennessee DUI really avoid jail altogether?
- No. Section 55-10-402 imposes a mandatory minimum of 48 consecutive hours — seven consecutive days at 0.15 or higher — served day-for-day, whatever the rest of the sentence looks like.
- How does the fine change on a second offence?
- From $350–$1,500 to a mandatory $600–$3,500, alongside a 45-day mandatory minimum jail term, a two-year revocation and vehicle forfeiture exposure.
- What does reinstatement cost at the Department of Safety?
- A $100 reinstatement fee on the published schedule, plus a $50 SR-22 filing fee where the filing is required and $75 where the license was not surrendered.
Related cost guides: Tennessee DUI costs overview, second-offense DUI costs, hardship license costs, ignition interlock costs, license reinstatement fees.
Sources: Tennessee Code Annotated §§ 55-10-401, 55-10-402, 55-10-403, 55-10-406, 55-10-417; Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security DUI outline and reinstatement fee schedule. 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.