If you were just arrested for DUI in California, the single most important thing to do is call a DMV Driver Safety Office within 10 calendar days of your arrest and request an Administrative Per Se hearing. Miss that call and you lose any chance to fight your license suspension before it starts. Everything else about what to do when you get a DUI in California — the arraignment, the plea, the fines, the interlock, the insurance — comes after that one phone call.
What You Leave the Station With
After booking, you either post bail or get released on your own recognizance. You walk out with two documents that matter. One is a citation listing the criminal charges and your first court date. The other is a pink form titled “Order of Suspension/Revocation,” and it doubles as your temporary driver’s license for 30 days.1California Department of Motor Vehicles. DUI First Offenders Alcohol Involved – Non-Injury 21 and Older Hold onto both. The date on the pink form is the clock you’re racing.
If your car was towed, you’ll need to get it out of impound: towing and storage fees, proof of ownership and insurance, and a licensed driver to move it. Storage fees run by the day, so handle it quickly.
Call the DMV Within 10 Days
You have exactly 10 calendar days from the date of arrest to request a hearing. Call a DMV Driver Safety Office — not a regular field office — and ask for an Administrative Per Se hearing. If you miss the window, the suspension kicks in automatically the moment your 30-day temporary license expires, and you forfeit the right to contest it.1California Department of Motor Vehicles. DUI First Offenders Alcohol Involved – Non-Injury 21 and Older
Request the hearing on time and the DMV puts a stay on the suspension. You keep driving on the temporary license until the hearing officer decides. The hearing is run by a DMV officer, not a judge, and it’s completely separate from criminal court. You (or an attorney) can appear by phone or in person, review the evidence, bring witnesses, and cross-examine the officer.2California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 13558
Winning the DMV hearing wipes out the administrative suspension. It does not protect you from a separate suspension if you’re later convicted in criminal court, and losing the DMV hearing does not predetermine the criminal case either. The two tracks run independently.
If You Refused the Breath or Blood Test
California’s implied consent law treats every licensed driver as having already agreed to a chemical test after a lawful DUI arrest.3California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 23612 Refusal carries its own penalties on top of the DUI case.
A first-time refusal triggers a one-year license suspension with no restricted-license option during that year. That’s three times the four-month administrative suspension for a standard first offense. A refusal with a prior DUI or refusal in the last 10 years becomes a two-year revocation; a third offense, three years.4California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 13353 A refusal also upgrades the criminal-side DUI education program from three months to nine.5California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 23538 If you refused, flag it for your attorney early; it changes the strategy.
Show Up for Your Arraignment
Your first court appearance is an arraignment. If you remained in custody after arrest, it has to happen within 48 hours, not counting Sundays and holidays.6California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 825 If you were released, the date is on your citation.
At the arraignment, the judge reads the charges, explains your rights, and appoints a public defender if you can’t afford counsel. You then enter a plea: guilty, not guilty, or no contest. For a misdemeanor DUI, a no contest plea carries the same criminal penalties as guilty, but it can’t be used against you as an admission in a related civil lawsuit — useful if someone was hurt and might sue.7California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1016 A not-guilty plea moves the case into the pre-trial phase, where your attorney reviews evidence, files motions, and negotiates.
Most first-time misdemeanor DUIs resolve through a plea rather than trial. Where the evidence is weak or the BAC was borderline, the charge is sometimes reduced to a “wet reckless” under Vehicle Code 23103.5.
What a First-Offense Conviction Looks Like
California’s legal limit is a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent for standard drivers and 0.04 percent for commercial drivers or those carrying passengers for hire.8California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 23152 A first conviction with no injuries is a misdemeanor. The core penalties:
- Jail: a minimum of 96 hours (at least 48 of them continuous) up to six months in county jail. The court is required to schedule jail time around your regular work hours when possible.9California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 23536
- Fines: a base fine of $390 to $1,000. State and county penalty assessments roughly quadruple the base, so a $390 fine lands near $1,800 out the door.10California Courts. Uniform Bail and Penalty Schedules
- DUI education program: three months and at least 30 hours of classes if your BAC was under 0.20 percent; nine months and 60 hours if it was 0.20 percent or higher or you refused testing.5California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 23538
- Ignition interlock device: the court may order a certified IID installed on your vehicle for up to six months.11California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 23575.3
- License suspension: six months through the DMV, separate from any administrative suspension already imposed.12California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 13352
- Probation: three to five years of informal probation. You must complete the program, pay the fines, commit no new crimes, and drive with zero measurable alcohol in your blood for the entire probation period.13California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 23600
Repeat offenses, DUI with injury, and a fourth offense within 10 years are charged differently and carry much steeper penalties, including possible state prison.
Getting Back on the Road
You don’t have to sit out the full six-month suspension without driving. California’s IID program lets you get a restricted license almost immediately if you complete every step:
- Install a certified ignition interlock device and submit the verification form (DL 920) to the DMV.
- Enroll in (or complete) the required DUI education program.
- File an SR-22 certificate of financial responsibility through your auto insurer, and keep it active for three years.
- Pay the reissue and restriction fees, including the $125 administrative per se reissue fee.14California Department of Motor Vehicles. Suspensions
- Clear any other suspensions on your record.
With the IID, you can start driving on the restricted license right away.15California Department of Motor Vehicles. Statewide Ignition Interlock Device Pilot Program Skip the IID and you can apply for a more limited restricted license that only allows driving to work and to your DUI program, but you first have to sit through a 30-day hard suspension, and the restriction lasts 12 months instead of six.
Do not drive on a suspended license in the meantime. It’s a separate misdemeanor carrying 10 days to six months in county jail and a $300 to $1,000 fine, even on a first offense, and the court will require an IID afterward anyway.16California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 14601.2
Budget for the Real Cost
Court fines are only the first bill. Filing an SR-22 is cheap on its own, usually $15 to $50. The damage shows up in your premium: California drivers with a DUI pay roughly 176 percent more for auto insurance than drivers with clean records, and you have to carry SR-22 coverage for three years.
Add the DUI program fees, IID installation and monthly calibration, the night-of towing and impound bill, and attorney fees. Private defense attorneys for a first-time misdemeanor DUI typically charge $1,000 to $5,000, more if the case is complex. The all-in cost of a first-offense DUI in California frequently exceeds $10,000.
If Any of These Apply to You, Say So Early
A few situations change the stakes well beyond the standard case, and your lawyer needs to know about them before entering a plea.
If you hold a professional license — healthcare, law, teaching, real estate, financial services — your board likely requires you to self-report the conviction within a set window. Failing to self-report often draws harsher discipline than the DUI itself.
If you have a commercial driver’s license, one DUI disqualifies you from operating a commercial vehicle for a year; a second is a lifetime disqualification. Pilots must report any DUI to the FAA.
If you aren’t a U.S. citizen, USCIS runs background checks during visa renewals, green card applications, and naturalization petitions. A single DUI may not trigger removal, but it draws scrutiny, and a second conviction can block a renewal or adjustment of status.
Even U.S. citizens hit a travel wall at Canada. Canada treats impaired driving as a serious criminal offense under its Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and a California misdemeanor DUI can get you turned away at the border.17Government of Canada. Immigration and Refugee Protection Act SC 2001 c 27 – Section 36 Entry becomes possible again through Criminal Rehabilitation once at least five years have passed since you finished your entire sentence (probation and fines included), or through a Temporary Resident Permit for shorter trips.