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Vermont DUI penalties breakdown: every component, line by line

Our Vermont DUI costs page gives the state overview. This page does the narrower job: it prices each component of 23 V.S.A. § 1210, the civil suspension track in §§ 1205–1208, and the refusal ladder — with no added-up total.

The first offence, component by component

Vermont's first-offence frame in § 1210(b) is short to state and wide in custody exposure: a person who violates § 1201 may be fined not more than $750.00 or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both. There is no mandatory minimum jail term at this tier in the published summaries, so — as in South Dakota — the custody line is exposure rather than a floor, and the priced certainty is the $750 fine ceiling. Before sentencing the court may order an alcohol assessment screening under § 1210(a), and the screening report may be considered at sentencing like a presentence report; a screening the defendant obtains independently is at the person's own expense. Either way the screening is a real component of a Vermont case, ordered or obtained before the fine is even set, and billed outside the statute's fine figure.

The licence component runs on the civil track: a first conviction brings a ninety-day suspension under § 1206 in the published summaries, and an eligible offender may drive during the suspension only on an ignition-interlock-restricted licence under the interlock provisions. Vermont therefore prices a first case in three distinct currencies — a fine capped at $750, a screening and any programme the screening leads to at provider prices, and ninety days of suspension or interlock-restricted driving — and this page keeps those currencies separate rather than converting them into a single dollar total the state has never published.

Second, third and fourth offences, and what escalates

A second offence within the last twenty years under § 1210(c) raises the frame to a fine of not more than $1,500.00 or imprisonment of not more than two years, or both — and adds a mandatory service-or-custody component with no equivalent at the first tier: at least 200 hours of community service shall be performed, or 60 consecutive hours of the sentence of imprisonment shall be served, which may not be suspended or deferred or served as a supervised sentence, except that credit may be given for time served in a residential alcohol facility under sentence where the programme is successfully completed. The civil suspension for a second conviction is eighteen months in the published summaries. Vermont's twenty-year lookback is one of the longest priced on this site: a prior old enough to be invisible in a five- or ten-year state still escalates a Vermont case into this tier.

A third offence is a felony where at least one prior falls within the lookback window, carrying up to five years and a fine of up to $2,500 in the published summaries of § 1210, with at least ninety-six consecutive hours to be served unless a judge makes the written findings the statute requires. A fourth or subsequent offence carries up to ten years and a fine of up to $5,000, with a mandatory minimum of one hundred ninety-two consecutive hours on the same written-findings structure. The licence consequence at the third tier is the heaviest on this page: revocation for life under § 1208 in the published summaries, subject to whatever restoration route Vermont law provides at the time — a component measured in eligibility and process, not in a reinstatement fee this page could honestly table.

Refusal and the civil suspension track

Vermont separates the test-refusal consequences into the civil suspension system of § 1205. In the published summaries, a first refusal suspends the licence for up to six months, a second refusal for eighteen months, and a third or subsequent refusal for life. A criminal refusal charge is separately available in the circumstances § 1202 describes — principally where the driver has a prior conviction or the case involves an accident with serious injury or death — so a refusal can price a Vermont case on both tracks at once. The civil track also suspends on a test failure without waiting for the criminal conviction, which is why the suspension figures in this section can begin before any fine in the § 1210 table is imposed. Reinstatement and interlock-restricted driving follow the Department of Motor Vehicles' ordinary licensing process; Vermont does not publish a single DUI-specific reinstatement total in §§ 1205–1210, so none is tabled here.

Sources: 23 V.S.A. § 1210(b)–(c) (first and second offence frames and the 200-hour / 60-consecutive-hour component, Vermont General Assembly); 23 V.S.A. §§ 1201, 1202, 1205, 1206 and 1208; published Vermont summaries for the third/fourth frames, suspension ladder and refusal ladder, attributed as such. Last verified: October 2026.

What this state does not publish as a single figure

Vermont court costs and surcharges are set outside § 1210's fine figures, and no single published DUI amount covers them — older references quote a $160 surcharge figure, which is not carried here because its current amount was not verified against a current official schedule at build time. The assessment screening and any programme it leads to, probation supervision, and an interlock provider's installation, lease and calibration charges are billed outside the statute. Those components are described as requirements on this page rather than priced as state charges. There is no published Vermont figure for the effect of a DUI on car insurance prices, and none is estimated here.

The lifetime revocation at the third tier deserves a plain reading: it is the licence component the published summaries of § 1208 state, and any restoration depends on the route Vermont provides when an application is made — it is not a fee that can be prepaid or priced in advance from this page.

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 authority in this state has published. Use the table to price the components that apply to a specific case, and compare the national pattern in our first-offense cost guide, second-offense guide and third-offense guide.

Common questions

What is the maximum fine for a first Vermont DUI?

$750 under § 1210(b), with imprisonment of up to two years available. There is no mandatory minimum jail term at the first tier.

What must a second Vermont offender serve or perform?

At least 200 hours of community service, or 60 consecutive hours of imprisonment that may not be suspended or deferred, under § 1210(c) — with credit possible for a successfully completed residential programme.

How long is Vermont's DUI lookback?

Twenty years for the second-offence tier in § 1210(c) — among the longest windows priced on this site.

Sources: 23 V.S.A. § 1210(b)–(c) (first and second offence frames and the 200-hour / 60-consecutive-hour component, Vermont General Assembly); 23 V.S.A. §§ 1201, 1202, 1205, 1206 and 1208; published Vermont summaries for the third/fourth frames, suspension ladder and refusal ladder, attributed as such. 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.