FAQ for Hiring a Traffic Ticket Lawyer
While our experienced traffic ticket team is available to answer your specific questions regarding your unique situation, below are the most common ones asked by our clients and those drivers exploring options.
How much do you charge to handle a ticket?
Our standard fee is $350, but may vary depending on a number of factors we will discuss with you, such as the factual and legal circumstances surrounding your traffic citation(s), your past driving record, the unique procedures of the court responsible for your case and the time required to favorably resolve your case which may or may not require one or more court appearances by attorney Greg Tharp, as well as by you, depending upon the traffic offense(s) and the particular court.
Why aren’t you less expensive than other traffic ticket attorneys or ticket “fixers?”
Two reasons: first, we are more experienced and dedicated than the vast majority of other professionals who do this type of work. Very few attorneys in Georgia accept traffic cases statewide. Secondly, we provide a very high level of personal service and responsiveness, as we believe our clients deserve open and understandable communication with their legal professionals. It’s difficult to provide the best representation while being the cheapest . . . in fact, we feel it’s impossible.
Is there a guarantee?
We guarantee we will represent you in the very best way we know how, utilizing our years of experience and our skill to achieve the very best result for you. However, sometimes the specific factual and legal circumstances of your traffic offense(s) or the unique policies of the specific prosecutor or judge responsible for the disposition of your case may prevent our accomplishing our goal for your case and that makes absolute guarantees on results impossible. Attorneys in Georgia are ethically bound not to create an unjustified expectation on the part of the client about results the lawyer can achieve. Accordingly, we cannot guarantee any specific result related to your traffic citation, and neither should any other law firm. However, our legal team has been doing this type of legal work for many years, and we have an in depth understanding of what different counties and municipalities in Georgia are willing to agree to in order to resolve your speeding ticket or other traffic violations. When you call, we will provide you a solid assessment of what will likely happen with your ticket and how best to move forward. Then you can decide at that time, if you wish us to represent you.
Do you represent out of state drivers?
Absolutely. At least a half or more of our clients are from the other forty-nine other states in the nation. Many of our out-of-state clients receive their traffic citations while simply traveling through Georgia and hire us to help resolve their tickets without being required to return to Georgia to attend traffic court. Except for very serious traffic offenses, we can resolve most cases in your absence.
Does your legal fee include court costs and fines?
No. Unfortunately, we have no control over fine amounts for each type of offense or court costs that accompany the fines. While prosecutors and judges will be willing to change or reduce the specific offense for which you have been charged in order to prevent it from being entered on your driving record, they will almost never be willing to reduce the fine amount and in some small number of courts will sometimes increase the fine a small amount in exchange for changing or reducing the offense. Our legal fee covers our time and is based on our years of experience handling tickets across the entire state of Georgia. You will be responsible for any fines or other costs assessed by the court, but of course, you will have the choice to accept or not accept a negotiated resolution in your case.
What is a Georgia Super Speeder ticket?
This is an additional $200.00 fine administratively assessed by the State of Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS) against drivers cited for speeding 75 mph or faster on a two-lane road or 85 mph or faster on any divided road or highway. This fine is NOT assessed by any local county or municipality, but rather by the State of Georgia DDS, after you have pled guilty by payment of the county or municipal fine or been found guilty by the court for speeding 75 or 85 as noted above. In many cases at the local level, we are able to have the offense reduced in order to avoid this additional $200.00 assessment against you by the State of Georgia.
Will my home state find out about my Georgia speeding/traffic ticket?
Yes, if you take no action to seek a change or reduction of the traffic offense for which you are cited in most cases, traffic violation information is shared freely between the Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS) and the motor vehicle departments of the other states in the nation where your license was issued. That is the main purpose for hiring us to represent you. It is our goal to seek to have the offense changed to a “non-reportable” offense such that the local county or municipality will not report it to the Georgia DDS, and therefore, if you are a Georgia resident it will not be entered on your Georgias driving record, or if you are a non-resident, reported by Georgia DDS to the state of your residency where it will be entered on your driving record there.
Will my insurance company find out about my Georgia speeding/traffic ticket?
It depends on the ultimate resolution of your case. Our goal is to prevent any reporting of your violation to your driving record in your home state from which insurers may obtain negative driver information about you.
Will you go to court for me?
Yes, if required by the court, although we try at all times to resolve the case without our appearance and especially without requiring yours. This is one of the primary reasons why clients hire our law firm.