PA First Offense Penalties and Effects on Personal Finance

First time offenders are looking at substantial monetary fines and probation, and this can be much, much worse if you have a high BAC (blood alcohol content) or if someone is injured or killed. For a first time offence though you can expect to get slapped with around $5,000 in fines and fees. Add on top of this your expenses for attorney fees and higher insurance rates. Drunk drivers insurance rates can triple or offenders can be dropped from their insurance. It would be very interesting here what other long term economic affects a DUI conviction causes. I'm sure that most people’s credit scores suffer due to missed/late payments caused by the economic strain of a conviction. It would be very interest if someone signed up for a credit reporting service and monitored the effects during this process, or at least posted a before and after credit score.  Regardless, the effects of a DUI on peoples personal finances are severe and additional offenses have a multiplying effect on this economic pain. Just be thankful you don't live in Germany if you get a conviction, they take a percent of your income!