How Much is the DUI Cost Recovery Program?
Calculating DUI debt to expect and how to minimize legal fees, it is necessary to first review how much a DUI will cost with or without a lawyer. Most people are first concerned with the cost of a DUI lawyer, which the national total average price range to expect is $1,325 for a local attorney to defend a first offense DUI, DWI case. For drivers who are struggling with finances to afford DUI lawyer costs, local economical lawyers for DUI defense are often the best inexpensive option for professional legal help with little to no legal fee for a client.
Pro bono attorneys are available through some local law firms to fight a DUI, DWI case for free, and are typically the better choice versus using a public defender. The reason for this is because most public defenders are commonly overloaded with too many cases to put in the time needed to win a driving under the influence case, which consequently means significantly high court fines upon a conviction or guilty plea.
Additionally, there is an expensive and growing new practice called the DUI Cost Recovery Program among many law enforcement agencies to seek compensation of costs for a standard DUI stop and investigation.
Needless to say, many people recently arrested for DUI or DWI are taken by surprise when they get a bill in the mail as a charge for additional fees and/or costs to pay. This is especially a shock, on top of their already expensive legal fees to deal with.
How the DUI Cost Recovery Program works, is after a DUI or DWI, particularly when there was an accident involving one or more vehicles, a DUI driver may receive a bill unexpectedly from the arresting police department, charging them hundreds to thousands of dollars for responding to the scene. Receiving this bill in the mail will generally come as a total shock to most first offenders.
If you were arrested for driving under the influence or a driving while high Marijuana charge and you received such a bill after an arrest, you were likely caught off-guard and you may even be wondering if this is a mistake or uncommon. Unfortunately, this growing program is fairly common now in many police departments, and DUI Cost Recovery is becoming a new normal for many recently arrested DUI drivers as part of the monetary consequences.
Some people are inclined to listen to advice from friends or family that is well-intended, but wrong that tell a person to just disregard paying the bill. However, this is truly a costly mistake if a driver takes that bad advice and chooses to not pay or ignore the bill.
What happens if you don’t pay the DUI Cost Recovery bill from the police department or law enforcement agency who issued it, is the bill will then be sent to collection. What this means, is the debt of the bill that went to collection will hurt a credit score and negatively impact a credit report. An unpaid DUI Cost Recovery bill is treated the same as any debt sent to a collection agency, affecting a person’s overall FICO score in the same manner.
How much is the average cost of DUI Cost Recovery programs? While every driver’s DUI or DWI arrest will bring it’s own specific fees, what to expect for the average price of the bill is $1,165 from the local police DUI Cost Recovery Program. There are varying methods used for how the police breakdown each one of the fees to add up to a total price for this bill.
One such cost calculation factor many people are not aware of, is the salary charges per hour of total staff hours for emergency personnel who responded to the DUI scene. This often includes charges to cover any ambulance if one was dispatched during the incident.
What anyone in this situation needs to realize, is getting the invoice bill for DUI Cost Recovery payment is entirely separate from any court fines, DUI school classes, ignition interlock cost, and all other fees toward a conviction or guilty plea. This is all the more reason why any driving under the influence offense today is more expensive than ever before, should a person lose in court or choose not to fight the charges to get dismissed.
When a person considers all the total DUI costs without using a lawyer, the likelihood of having to pay the most amount of money becomes clear unless a good defense attorney is used to fight and avoid these fees in the first place.
Why am I getting charged this extra fee for the DUI Cost Recovery Program when police are a public service paid with tax dollars?
In drunk and drugged driving cases and most criminal offenses, it is true law enforcement agencies are not allowed to charge money for investigation costs or other expenses from the drivers they arrest. These DUI-related costs are considered standard law enforcement expenditures which is included in police department budgets.
However, the legal legislature in many states has recognized that certain DUI and DWI arrests, primarily ones that involve injury or damage, require law enforcement agencies to spend more money on resources when utilizing emergency personnel or equipment. In arrests involving suspected intoxicated drivers, more officers than what is considered typical may be required to help during the arrest incident.
Additionally, fire and EMT staff are often required to provide their emergency response services due to a driver’s DUI-related offense. Therefore if an individual’s DUI or DWI was the catalyst for an emergency response call to the scene, a driver can liably be on the hook under the DUI Cost Recovery Program to compensate the extra costs of law enforcement and fire or paramedics.
We can answer your questions, tell you how to fight a DUI Cost Recovery invoice bill demanding payment by utilizing certain rights and defenses under the law, and inform you of which strategies will work best to dismiss the charges.
