ParkingTicket.com offers a service that promises "your ticket will be dismissed or reduced we GUARANTEE it." I used the service after receiving a ticket in New York City for parking too close to a fire hydrant on Central Park West.

Did the Company Deliver and what was the Fee?

Yes, the company delivered. I was promised my $115 ticket would be dismissed or I would be refunded the service fee. The fee was 50% of the ticket price, or $57.50 which was charged to my credit card immediately upon submitting my ticket information. Upon following the directions I was given, and sending in the letter they wrote for me, my ticket was dismissed by NYC.

Customer Service Experience

I give them a 3.5 out of 5 on customer service and overall experience. There was a strange problem with the model ticket form I filled out not having all the fields and options that my paper ticket had. When I reported this to them I really didn't get an answer. The rep told me:

"The Dismissal Request Letter prepared for you contains specific reasons why your ticket should be dismissed. We take into account all the information you have provided, in addition with the specific laws of the City when preparing each letter.

Although certain situations and additional comments may seem to help your case, they do not always have a solid basis within the actual vehicle and traffic laws and are often not actual legal grounds for dismissal of the ticket. Therefore, please submit the letter as it is currently written, and remember that we guarantee dismissal of the ticket."

So, What's the Deal?

When you create your account on the system it asks you to enter all the information from your vehicle registration and from the parking ticket itself. You are told it is very important to enter the information as you see it because often tickets are dismissed based on the differences between the two documents. Indeed, that is exactly what happened to me.

Once you submit you are immediately charged the fee (a little disconcerting since you at that time have nothing to show for it). You are told that you will receive an email in a few days with a link to download and print your dismissal letter. For me it took 4 days.

When I got the mail I downloaded the dismissal letter. It was about 3 pages long - a ridiculous jumble of legalese. The site goes to great lengths to remind you repeatedly that you cannot copy the letter or save it digitally. Thus, I cannot post it here. I assume this is to prevent everyone from seeing what to write for themselves.

I mailed the letter in with the suggested photos of my registration stickers, license plate, and inspection stickers. Within about 10 days my dismissal letter came. Per instructions I entered this verdict into the parkingticket.com site under my account. In an oddly amusing manner, the site congratulated me on beating my ticket and offered a free certificate that I could print to show my ticket beating prowess. I passed on the certificate.

The Bottom Line

If you're about saving time and getting out of a ticket this service is for you. However, if you have the time and the energy to do some googling and you are a decent writer then it's my opinion you can do what this company offers for yourself (See links at the bottom for a good tutorial).

Truth be told, I probably would not have said that if my ticket had not been dismissed with this statement, "Dismissal is not on the merits of the case presented". It was upon reading that statement (as written by NYC representative) that I actually took the time to do my own research.

That said, the reason the ticket was dismissed was because the officer who wrote it said my year of registration was not available when it was on the registration sticker. At parkingticket.com's suggestion I included a photo of said sticker and that is what got me off. I most likely would not have done that without their prompting.

Would I use them again? Probably not unless I was too pressed for time to do the letter writing myself. Having learned the tricks I would try to write the letter myself and send the photos. And, of course, I'll not park 8 feet from a fire hydrant again either.

Overall, I'm neutral. This is by no means a scam, but it is a service that you can perform for yourself if you have a little time.

Additional Reading

• Forbes Article, "The Ticket Fixer"


• BlogCritics.org, Review + Comments


• The NYC Insider, "How to Fight a Parking Ticket"


• NYC Dept. of Finance, "Request a Hearing by Mail" (for your ticket)