Local company offering online solution to traffic tickets
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SEATTLE -- Thanks to a local law firm, drivers looking to fight speeding or red light tickets now have a high-tech option to keep them out of a courtroom.
ETicketbuster.com is a new website from a Seattle law firm that claims to have a knack for beating traffic tickets. And while some attorneys charge hundreds of dollars regardless of the outcome, eTicketbuster offers a unique twist.
Drivers need only to answer a few online questions, upload a photocopy of their ticket and provide a statement. The website handles everything else by taking advantage of a state law letting people contest moving violations online instead of in court.
"There is nothing preventing anybody from doing this, but the chances they will meet the barriers set by the court are less," said Raanan Schnitzer, who co-founded the website.
The company's twist is that it requires clients to pay half of the ticket cost up front. If the company doesn't reduce the ticket by half, the driver gets their money back to pay the ticket. If the ticket is reduced by half, the driver splits the savings with eTickebuster.
"You have nothing to lose," Schnitzer said.
Aside from a $6.50 non-refundable fee, eTicketbuster only makes money if they reduce the ticket by more than half.
"For our model to succeed, it relies on volume," Schnitzer said.
The state averages 2,600 traffic tickets per day, so the volume already exists.
The site is only available to fight moving violations, so drivers with parking tickets have to look elsewhere.
The company is available to drivers everywhere but Wahkiahum County, which is the only county in Washington that doesn't allow drivers to fight traffic tickets online.
ETicketbuster.com is a new website from a Seattle law firm that claims to have a knack for beating traffic tickets. And while some attorneys charge hundreds of dollars regardless of the outcome, eTicketbuster offers a unique twist.
Drivers need only to answer a few online questions, upload a photocopy of their ticket and provide a statement. The website handles everything else by taking advantage of a state law letting people contest moving violations online instead of in court.
"There is nothing preventing anybody from doing this, but the chances they will meet the barriers set by the court are less," said Raanan Schnitzer, who co-founded the website.
The company's twist is that it requires clients to pay half of the ticket cost up front. If the company doesn't reduce the ticket by half, the driver gets their money back to pay the ticket. If the ticket is reduced by half, the driver splits the savings with eTickebuster.
"You have nothing to lose," Schnitzer said.
Aside from a $6.50 non-refundable fee, eTicketbuster only makes money if they reduce the ticket by more than half.
"For our model to succeed, it relies on volume," Schnitzer said.
The state averages 2,600 traffic tickets per day, so the volume already exists.
The site is only available to fight moving violations, so drivers with parking tickets have to look elsewhere.
The company is available to drivers everywhere but Wahkiahum County, which is the only county in Washington that doesn't allow drivers to fight traffic tickets online.
I'm a traffic lawyer too, and after looking at the site and what they are promising, I have a couple of questions and a couple of concerns. Instead of writing them all out here, I wrote a blog post about it. You can check it out here -Â http://traffic-lawyer-blog.com/2012/11/is-eticketbusters-worth-the-risk/.Â
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Maybe they can answer those questions to your satisfaction. Maybe not. But there is quite a bit of money at stake with a traffic ticket. It's important to make the right decision for you.
How about not speeding or running red lights? Â Then you wouldn't have to even pay the $6.50!
From the Washington DOL site
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Washington's Department of Licensing (DOL) does not operate under a so-called point system. However, there are penalties, including license suspension and revocation, for repeat speeding tickets or other violations that exhibit a pattern of unsafe driving
 @Joe X Joe, if it looks like a "point" and acts like a "point", it's a point.  The WSP claims they don't have ticket quotas also... and formally they don't... but when promotions and extra-duty assignments are given as perks to the most productive, well, you do the math.  There are no truths in government, only half-lies and full-lies.
@Joe X ....unless you have a cdl. CDL holders also can't receive "probation" like standard licensed drivers. I recently got a truly bogus ticket (the first ticket in 15+ years). Knowing that the likelihood of getting another ticket in the next year was virtually nil, I took it and my evidence to the neighborhood court in W. Seattle to ask for a deferral based on my record . The magistrate said, "I'm convinced of your innocence but the law and your cdl prohibits me from "masking" your record like everyone else is entitled to."  So, I had to schedule a contested hearing downtown where I promptly beat the ticket, wasting everyones time and money. Just because I have a cdl, I'm held to a higher standard than even a Seattle Police Officer. I said that in court. The prosecutor and judge didn't seem to like that. Whatever. It is what it is. Â
 @Joe X whats the point?
Traffic tickets have become a source of revenue for the government. Â Witness the State Revenuers hanging out on the 405 on Sunday mornings - this isn't for safety or to solve crimes, but to harvest enough revenue to get the next promotion. Â If they cared about safety, they'd be getting the slower impaired (sometimes by age) drivers, or the rigs spewing dirt and rocks everywhere.
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But the fine and principle aren't why to fight it. Â Insurance and record too. Â ETicketBuster can make money even if they get a reduction, but it's still a point on your record and a boost to your insurance at that point. Â Lawyers (e.g. Jeannie Mucklestone) also can make money if they lose, but they have a known reputation and record... not the nebulous "we can't tell you" obfuscation of ETicketBuster. Â Sometimes spending twice as much buys you four times more.
 @TCat completely agree! if i were to get a $100 speeding ticket i'd rather pay $300 to have it disappear instead of the $100 + a hike in insurance of (depending on what you're already paying) at least $40/month for the next 3 years
This is a very clever business idea.
The monster that is our justice system is only growing more and more out of control every day. Â
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So many people can't get work in Seattle due to the over prosecuting and so many trumped up charges by our now PROVEN corrupt Seattle police department that city council member Bruce Harrell actually wants to bar employers from checking into the criminal backgrounds for people applying for jobs.Â
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Why didn't Bruce Harrell and the rest of the city council do something all these years until now? Â Â
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The corruption never ends in Seattle. Â
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 @Andrew Bush and he wants to bar employers from criminal background checks so that they hire more people with a criminal background or...? if one does an illegal activity, it doesn't matter where it happened, where they live or where they seek work or who charged them, they're still a criminal