fmerges,
Where is encapsulation being broken?

$dbh->{AutoCommit} = 0;
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The DBI is a tied interface and you are not really breaking encapsulation by doing this. This is a perfectly acceptable way of doing business with this module - just see the docs.

You did indirectly answer the OP's question (begin_work). According to the docs - If the driver does not support transactions then when begin_work attempts to set AutoCommit off the driver will trigger a fatal error. You just need to work it a bit differently since the OP wants to know if transactions are supported prior to trying a transaction. This means checking the actual contents of $@ rather than just seeing if it is set.