CBS4 Exclusive: Get Rid Of Your Ticket App
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- When you get a traffic ticket you usually have two options:
Pay it or hire an attorney to fight it. Now a South Florida entrepeneur has come up with a third option, he's promissing will save you time and money. CBS4's David Sutta reports.
Miami Entrepreneur Chris Riley may be onto the next big thing... in traffic tickets. "We think this is a big deal. We think it will be big here in the county, very quickly in the state." Riley says. In a Coral Gables headquarters of his startup he is eager to display his "game changer". "Our customers save an average of 20% off the fine amount of their ticket. Up front and guaranteed." he explains. Riley has created an app that will not only save you money, it can make your ticket go away in less than two minutes. "I view TIKD, sincerely, as a better alternative to paying your ticket for virtually everybody." Riley says.
He calls it TIKD, yes a play on tickets and being ticked off. Every year hundreds of thousands of drivers get tickets in South Florida. When an officer pulled Riley over last year... he started looking into traffic court. "I went to every traffic court in Miami and just sat there." He noticed more often than not cases get dismissed. Drivers win. But a majority of drivers who get tickets never go to court. They just pay them. "This is a problem that affects a lot of people in the county and around the country, that can't afford these tickets so that part of it made me, pushed me to find a real solution to this problem." Riley says.
When you get a ticket you can either pay it or hire a lawyer to challenge it in court. Riley is offering a third option: his web app, where you upload a photo of your ticket, enter your credit card, and save 20% or more off of the ticket fine. He shows us how it works using a real ticket from a customer. He enters in the fines, uploads the ticket photos, and the app shows him his savings. "So this customer saved $90, almost $100 off their traffic tickets. Which is real money." he says.
The whole process takes seconds. In the background though a lot is happening. His company takes your fee and hires a lawyer. That lawyer takes it to traffic court. If you win... great! If you lose TIKD pays your fines. You are on the hook for nothing. "We pay that fine even if it's more than you paid us, in fact even if it's more than the face value of your traffic ticket." Riley said. And if you get points on your license he says he'll refund your money. How's that possible? He says he's a numbers guy. You fighting your ticket alone is a roll of the dice. Riley explained "The reason we are able to assume this liability is we are not playing an individual game. We are playing a game of averages." TIKD is planning to handle thousands of cases. And he says his data shows he'll come out ahead. The APP went live last week... and so far it's working. "With one exception, every single ticket has been dismissed." Riley said.
It should be noted TIKD is only taking straight forward cases like speeding or running a stop sign." Anything with alcohol, anything with minors, anything with excessive speeding, any accident that involves a death or serious injury. These types of tickets we don't do." Riley said
"We spoke with a few traffic attorneys regarding TIKD. Some had concerns about the legality of the service. However none could say definitively whether it was illegal because TIKD is technically not a law firm or offering legal advice."
TIKD is currently available only in Miami-Dade County. They plan to roll out in Broward next and then West Palm, and up the state. For more information go to TIKD.com or app.tikd.com.
