How Ticket Wiper Is Helping New Yorkers Fight Parking Tickets

Ticket Wiper is an app that was founded in 2017 in an effort to help people fight unfair New York City parking tickets. How does it work? Every ticket submitted through the app is reviewed, tracked and processed by real human experts in parking violations. We talked to David Obstfeld, founder of Ticket Wiper, to learn just how he and his team of experienced ticket wipers have been saving New Yorkers a ton of money in parking tickets.

Patch: How long have you been doing business in town?

Obstfeld: Ticket Wiper has been around since 2017, but I’ve been doing business helping people fight New York City parking tickets in Brooklyn for several years prior to our app’s launch.

Patch: What attracted you to the line of work you’re in, and how did you get started?

Obstfeld: I’m a Brooklyn boy, born and raised in Borough Park. I’ve always had a dream of helping people, and I thought fighting parking tickets was a good area where I could help people and make a living at the same time. I’ve helped commercial clients with parking tickets for several years, and I’m thrilled to have the chance to help regular people now as well through Ticket Wiper.

If you had to sum up your business mission to a stranger in five words, what would those words be?

Obstfeld: Help people fight parking tickets.

Patch: What’s the biggest challenge or most difficult moment you’ve faced in your job?

Obstfeld: The biggest challenge for me was accepting that I couldn’t do everything on my own. In the beginning, when the business was a one-man show, I was working from 9 a.m. to midnight almost every day. It was incredibly difficult. I thought I could take care of everything myself and that I had to in order to succeed. However, I figured out that wasn’t true, and that’s how I learned the importance of delegating. Now, I have a terrific, trustworthy team who help me do an even better job for our clients and our users. We now can take on far more parking tickets than ever before. Sometimes the most obvious answers are the most difficult to accept.

Patch: What’s the most satisfying part of your job?

Obstfeld: It’s the success stories. Knowing that someone would have probably gotten an unfair result had we not intervened on their behalf makes everything about this job worthwhile. For instance, a Ticket Wiper user received a ticket for $515 on a Code 29 violation, which alleges altering an intercity bus permit. It turned out that this user was driving a passenger vehicle, and this violation could never have applied to that kind of regular passenger vehicle. Without any further explanation from the user, we noticed the clear discrepancy on the ticket and the Traffic Rules, and we were able to argue successfully to have the ticket dismissed, saving that user over $250 in fines.

Patch: How would you say your business or organization distinguishes itself from the others?

Obstfeld: We’re really passionate and hands-on with the people we help. Everyone on our team is in Brooklyn, so when we’re working with our users, they’re always getting someone who can relate to their situation.

Patch: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given when it comes to success?

Obstfeld: Never give up. There are times we have to fight extra hard to get tickets dismissed purely on the merits, and that extra push definitely makes a difference.

Are there any new projects or endeavors you’re working on that you’re extra excited about?

Obstfeld: Mobile apps like Ticket Wiper inspire countless creative ideas. While I can’t tell you exactly what we have planned, we are working on ways for Ticket Wiper to help users avoid parking tickets better in addition to helping fight parking tickets when they do get one.

Patch: How can Patch readers learn more about your work and business?

Obstfeld: People can stay on top of all things New York City parking ticket related on our website. We post regularly on our blog with tips on how to avoid parking tickets, interesting stories around parking tickets, and some useful stats and analyses on what tickets you’re most likely to get in certain neighborhoods.

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Image Credit: Ticket Wiper

This Patch article is sponsored by Ticket Wiper.