If you’ve been arrested for DUI in San Diego, the best thing you can do is hire an experienced DUI attorney to fight these charges. Good legal representation does costs money, and when you’re already worried about fines and potential loss of income, you might ask yourself if the additional cost of hiring a San Diego DUI lawyer is even worth it. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just plead guilty to your charges? Not when considering the true costs that come with a San Diego DUI conviction.

If you are convicted of DUI in San Diego, you will be required to attend a traffic school on your own time and at your own expense, as well as pay the fines required by the State. The minimum fine for a first offense San Diego DUI is $300, but depending on your BAC, anything on your record, your type of license, and whether your case involved an accident, injury, or death, your fines could be as much as $10,000.

Also, if you’re convicted of a DUI, your car insurance rates will go up significantly, assuming your insurance company doesn’t just drop you. For a second or third offense, you will be required to pay for an interlock ignition device for your vehicle. An interlock device is a sort of personal breathalyzer that only lets you drive after it test your breath for alcohol. The interlock device is usually about $1,000.

There are also the costs of time lost. Even if you’re not convicted, at the very least you will have to take off time from work for court dates and hearings. Things definitely get a lot worse if you’re convicted. A DUI conviction for anything more than a first offense with a low BAC will result in mandatory time in jail anywhere from 2 days to 60 months. That potential loss of work time added to the fact that your DUI conviction will be put on your permanent, public criminal record where anyone (including your employer) can see it, and you could even risk getting fired from your place of employment altogether.

Ultimately, a DUI conviction will result in the loss of your license and, if you face time in jail, your freedom as well. Are these things important to you? Can you put a dollar value on staying out of jail and keeping your freedom, on protecting your permanent record, on keeping your ability to drive your car when you want or need to? Think about it.

When you consider all the potential costs of getting a DUI conviction, it’s easy to understand why hiring an experienced San Diego DUI lawyer to defend you can actually save you money in the long run. If you’ve been arrested for a DUI in San Diego, make the smart decision and contact DUI Crew today for your free initial consultation. Put on of our aggressive San Diego DUI attorneys in your corner to defend your rights, your freedom, and your pocketbook.