App of the Week – Fixed

Nothing is more infuriating than returning to your car and finding a big stinking parking ticket on it!  That’s why Fixed is the App of the Week. Fixed is a mobile app that fights parking tickets for you. Let’s be real, fighting a parking ticket takes time. Fixed is the tool that gives you a fighting chance.

Source: nasirjones.com

Fixed is a start up backed by rapper Nas. Since the app is so new it has only been available in San Francisco. It is now expanding across the bridge to the neighboring city of Oakland. Fix plans to add a new city at a rate of about one per month, the company says. More on that later.

The concept for the Fixed app is really simple yet genius . Victims of renegade meter maids simply snap a photo of the offending parking ticket with their smartphone. The app checks for a variety of common errors then writes a customized letter to the city protesting the ticket for you. Fixed co-founder David Hegarty says there is more to the app. The company checks Google Street View for the proper street signage in the area you received the ticket.

According to Hegarty the City and County of San Francisco is not exactly happy with the way the startup has helped automate the ticket contesting process for locals. “Over 50% of tickets have an issue or error that makes them invalid,” he explains. “But we get frustrated because the SFMTA (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) doesn’t play by the rules of what’s valid versus invalid. They’re a complete stickler for the rules when issuing the ticket…but they have a very lax interpretation of the rules when it comes to arbitrating disputes,” he laments.

According the to the Fixed website more than 50 percent of parking tickets are dismissed when challenged. But Hagerty says the success rate for tickets contested by the Fixed app is only 20-30 percent. Hegarty thinks it would be higher if the city honored the rules. He says the company is even thinking about taking further legal action to make that happen. The site also claims to have a team of experts on parking laws.

The long term plan for Fixed is  to bring the app to the top 100 cities around the U.S., starting with major markets like New York and Chicago before working its way down. And therein lies my only gripe with this app. The rollout needs to be faster and more wide spread. An app with this potential could change the way parking laws and meter maids operate. Its called democracy and the people have the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. This app is great tool for the power of the people. Fixed needs to step up their roll out!

Fixed has grown its customer base and is now processing around 700 to 800 tickets per week. That equates to $4 million in annual parking fines. The company only makes money when it beats a ticket. The success fee is 25 percent of the original fine. If the app loses there is only a convenience fee for handling payment of the ticket on your behalf. But that fee alone is not enough to keep it in business. Fixed needs to beat the system more often than 20 percent of the time to survive and become profitable.

Fixed is free and only available for Apple