How a DUI Affects Your Car Insurance (And How Long It Lasts)
If you are facing a drunk driving charge in Michigan, here is the straight answer about car insurance. A conviction for a DUI, which Michigan law calls an OWI (operating while intoxicated), almost always raises your car insurance, often for years, and the conviction is recorded on your state driving record permanently. The points come off after two years. The conviction does not.
For more than 30 years, our Metro Detroit OWI defense team has helped good people protect their licenses, their records, and their wallets. Knowing what is coming is the first step to limiting the damage.
What Happens to Your Insurance Right After a Michigan OWI
When you are convicted of an OWI, your insurance company finds out. Most insurers pull your driving record at renewal, and a drunk driving conviction moves you into their high-risk category. That usually means a sharp premium increase. Some companies will decline to renew your policy altogether, which sends you shopping for high-risk coverage at a higher price.
How big the jump is depends on several things. Michigan defines operating while intoxicated as driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher. A separate High BAC charge applies when BAC is 0.17 or more. A High BAC conviction signals more risk to an insurer, so the increase is often steeper. Several factors shape how much your premium climbs:
- Â Â The insurer you use, since each company rates drunk driving differently.
- Â Â Your record before the OWI, including any prior tickets or claims.
- Â Â The offense level, since a High BAC charge usually costs more than a standard OWI.
- Â Â Whether your current company keeps you or moves you to the high-risk market.
Because of those variables, two drivers with the same charge can see very different numbers. The direction, though, is always the same. Your rates go up.
Six Points Now, but the Conviction Stays on Your Record for Good
A standard OWI conviction adds 6 points to your Michigan driving record. Operating while visibly impaired, a lesser charge, adds 4 points. Points placed on your driving record stay there for two years from the date of conviction, and then they drop off.
Here is the part people miss. The points fall off, but the conviction does not. Michigan keeps a conviction for impaired driving on your driving record permanently. There is no seven-year or ten-year cutoff for an OWI the way there is for many other offenses.
It also helps to know that the state point system is separate from the way an insurance company sets your rate. The Secretary of State uses points to decide things like license sanctions and driver reexaminations. Your insurer uses its own formula.
Even after your two-year state points are gone, the conviction is still on your record where an insurer can find it. We break this down further in our guide on how long a DUI stays on your record.
How Long the Higher Insurance Rates Last
Most insurers treat an OWI as a rating factor for several years, commonly three to five, though every company sets its own look-back window. If your record stays clean, rates often ease once that window closes. Because the conviction is a permanent entry on your driving record, some insurers can weigh it for longer than that.
A second offense changes the picture entirely. A second OWI within 7 years is not just a bigger insurance problem—it also triggers a license revocation. You cannot reapply for at least one year, or at least five years if this is a third conviction within 10 years or you had a prior revocation within seven years.
Reaching that date only lets you file for license restoration, not actually get your license back. In practice, a first win after a second conviction usually comes closer to three years out, once you have been off probation long enough to show a real period of voluntary sobriety. Getting back on the road is not automatic.
You have to file and win a formal driver’s license restoration appeal. Protecting your driving privileges on the first OWI is one of the best ways to keep your insurance from getting far worse later.
One practical step in the meantime is to shop around. High-risk carriers price the same driver very differently, so comparing quotes can soften the blow while the conviction is fresh.
Can You Get a Michigan OWI Off Your Record?
Sometimes, but with a catch that matters for your insurance. Since February 19, 2022, Michigan has allowed you to ask a court to set aside, or expunge, a first OWI. You generally must wait at least five years after you finish your sentence, including any probation, and the OWI must be your only one. An OWI that caused injury or death is not eligible.
Even then, a set-aside does not clear your driving record. Michigan law specifically prohibits a DUI conviction from being removed from the driving record kept by the Secretary of State. In plain terms, an expungement can clean up your public criminal record while the OWI stays on your driving record, where insurers and the state can still see it.
That is why the surest way to protect your insurance is to keep the conviction off your record in the first place. Our job is to fight the charge so it never lands there.
If you are dealing with a Michigan OWI and worried about your insurance, your license, and your record, call us Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. After-hours calls are answered by our answering service. We offer a free, confidential phone consultation. A friendly and helpful person will answer your questions and walk you through your options.
Learn more about our Michigan DUI and OWI defense work by getting in touch with our office today. No pressure and no fluff, just a straight answer about where things stand.