Having authorities stop you on suspicion of drunk driving may prove tremendously harrowing and anxiety-inducing. While you may face criminal penalties as a result of your actions, you should also anticipate considerable financial repercussions. These days, most Americans who receive convictions for drunk driving find that their arrests wind up costing them thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars over time. This typically holds true regardless of where you reside geographically.
According to BACtrack, a typical New York motorist who received his or her first conviction for driving while intoxicated should expect to shell out, at minimum, about $9,500. Certain factors, however, such as whether you were of a legal drinking age and whether you caused anyone injury, may make this figure substantially higher. Just what types of expenses should you expect to have to cover in the wake of a DWI conviction?
Numerous DWI-related expenses
Some of the expenses you should expect to face after a DWI come soon after your initial arrest. You may need to come up with bail money, for example, and you may, too, have to pay towing or impound costs to get your vehicle back. Moving forward, you should expect to have to potentially finance court costs, substance abuse treatment programs and probation expenses, among others. Then, once you are in a position to think about driving again, you are going to have to pay license reinstatement fees and significantly more for car insurance coverage than you did prior to your DWI conviction.
Teens may pay even more
While anyone who gets a DWI conviction in New York should expect a steep auto insurance premium increase, teen drivers with DWI convictions should anticipate even more of an upsurge. Statistically, drivers between the ages of 15 and 19 are more likely to cause crashes. Because of this, the financial implications of a teen driver’s DWI conviction are considerable.
While, ultimately, myriad factors come into play when determining how much a DWI conviction should cost you in total, know that virtually all drivers convicted of drunk driving find that their convictions take a sizable financial toll.