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Utah DUI penalties breakdown: every component, line by line
Our Utah DUI costs page gives the state overview. This page does the narrower job: it prices each component of Utah Code §§ 41-6a-502 and 41-6a-503 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
Utah has to be priced from a different starting point than every other state in this run, because § 41-6a-502 sets the per se limit at 0.05 — the lowest in the country since December 30, 2018 — alongside an impairment prong that covers a driver who is incapable of safely operating a vehicle at any concentration. A first offence under § 41-6a-503 is a Class B misdemeanour with a mandatory component of 48 hours, which the Utah Highway Safety Office summarises as jail, compensatory service or electronically monitored home confinement, and a fine whose statutory minimum is $700 in the published summaries, before the surcharges Utah adds to criminal fines. The Driver License Division suspension for a first offence is 120 days, and screening and assessment are mandatory, with the education or treatment that follows set by what the assessment recommends.
The fine figure needs the same care here as the assessment figure did in South Carolina. The $700 is a minimum fine, not an amount paid: the Highway Safety Office itself notes that first-offence fines typically start around $700 but often exceed $1,300 once fees and surcharges are included. That is an official observation about how Utah's surcharge structure behaves, and this page reports it as exactly that — it does not convert it into a Utah total, because the surcharge outcome depends on the fine the court actually imposes in the individual case. What is fixed and tabled is the structure: a $700 minimum fine at the first tier, rising minimums at the repeat tiers, mandatory time at every tier, and a screening whose recommended treatment is billed by the provider who delivers it.
Second and third offences, and what escalates
A second offence within ten years raises the mandatory time to 240 hours — ten days — in jail, or five days in jail plus thirty days of electronically monitored home confinement in the published summaries, with a fine minimum of $800, a two-year license revocation, supervised probation and an interlock restriction. A third offence within ten years is a third-degree felony carrying zero to five years and a fine minimum of $1,500 in the statutory summaries, and where the court grants probation the mandatory jail component is put at 1,500 hours in those summaries. Utah also layers status restrictions on top of the suspension itself — an alcohol-restricted driver period during which any detectable alcohol is a separate violation, and an interlock restriction measured in months — so the end of the 120-day or two-year license period is not the end of the priced consequences of a Utah conviction.
Refusal, the restricted license, and reinstatement charges
Refusal is, unusually, the more expensive license decision in Utah. Published Driver License Division summaries put a first refusal at an eighteen-month license action, against 120 days for a first conviction, and the refusal action runs on the administrative track regardless of how the criminal case ends. A driver who needs to drive during a suspension or revocation does so through the interlock restriction, at the driver's own expense with an approved provider. Reinstatement requires completing the license period or the interlock route, the screening and any recommended programme, and the Division's ordinary restoration requirements; Utah does not publish a single DUI-specific reinstatement tariff separate from those components, so this page prices the statutory fine minimums and periods and describes the rest rather than inventing a restoration figure.
| DUI component | Published amount |
|---|---|
| The offence (§ 41-6a-502) | Utah's per se limit is 0.05 — the lowest in the United States — alongside the impairment prong for a driver incapable of safely operating a vehicle |
| First offence (§ 41-6a-503) | Class B misdemeanour; mandatory 48 hours in jail, or compensatory service or electronically monitored home confinement in the published Highway Safety summary; fine with a $700 minimum in the statutory summaries, before surcharges; 120-day Driver License Division suspension; mandatory screening and assessment |
| Second offence in 10 years (§ 41-6a-503) | Mandatory 240 hours (10 days) in jail, or 5 days plus 30 days of electronically monitored home confinement in the published summaries; fine minimum $800 in those summaries; 2-year revocation; supervised probation and interlock restriction |
| Third offence in 10 years (§ 41-6a-503) | Third-degree felony, 0 to 5 years; fine minimum $1,500 in the statutory summaries; where probation is granted, the published summaries put the mandatory jail component at 1,500 hours |
| High BAC and interlock (§§ 41-6a-503, 41-6a-518 summaries) | A concentration of 0.16+ is an aggravating marker in Utah Highway Safety guidance, and an interlock restriction — 18 months in published first-offence summaries — is the restricted-driving mechanism; the device is at the driver's expense |
| Refusal (Driver License Division summaries) | Refusal carries its own, longer license action than a first conviction — 18 months for a first refusal in published DLD summaries — separate from the criminal tiers |
Sources: Utah Code §§ 41-6a-502 (0.05 offence) and 41-6a-503 (penalty tiers); Utah Highway Safety Office, Utah DUI laws page (first and second offence overviews, 0.16 aggravator, screening and assessment); Utah Driver License Division suspension and refusal summaries. 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
Utah court surcharges are calculated from the fine imposed and are not a single published DUI amount, and the screening provider's assessment, any recommended education or treatment, supervised probation, home confinement monitoring and an interlock provider's installation and monthly charges are all billed outside § 41-6a-503. Those components are described as requirements on this page rather than priced as state charges, and the Highway Safety Office's observation that surcharges often carry a first offence past $1,300 is reported as an observation, not tabled as a total. There is no published Utah figure for the effect of a DUI on car insurance prices, and none is estimated here.
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 Utah 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
- Why is Utah's DUI limit 0.05?
- Utah lowered its per se limit to 0.05 in § 41-6a-502, effective December 30, 2018 — the lowest in the United States — while keeping an impairment prong that can support a charge below even that level.
- What is the minimum fine for a first Utah DUI?
- $700 in the statutory summaries for § 41-6a-503, before surcharges; the Utah Highway Safety Office notes the amount paid often exceeds $1,300 once fees and surcharges are added to the fine imposed.
- Is refusing a test in Utah worse for your license than a conviction?
- On the published Driver License Division summaries, yes for a first case: a first refusal carries an 18-month license action, compared with a 120-day suspension for a first conviction.
Related cost guides: Utah DUI costs overview, second-offense DUI costs, DUI refusal costs, ignition interlock costs, license reinstatement fees.
Sources: Utah Code §§ 41-6a-502 (0.05 offence) and 41-6a-503 (penalty tiers); Utah Highway Safety Office, Utah DUI laws page (first and second offence overviews, 0.16 aggravator, screening and assessment); Utah Driver License Division suspension and refusal summaries. 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.