A public defender you may qualify for, a private attorney on a flat fee, or standing up at the hearing by yourself
A flat fee is a useful thing, because it tells you the ceiling before you commit, but the number by itself tells you almost nothing. Two attorneys in the same King County courthouse can quote figures that look close and mean very different things, one covering a single appearance and a phone call, the other carrying the file from arraignment through a contested hearing and whatever follows. The careful reader does not compare prices. The careful reader compares scopes, then compares prices inside the same scope.
What the quote is actually buying
Ask what event the fee ends at, and ask it in those words, because the answer is a date on a calendar rather than an abstraction. On an infraction, the natural stopping point is the contested hearing, the mitigation hearing, or a written negotiation with the prosecutor or the officer's agency, and once that hearing happens the representation is complete. On a misdemeanor, the events multiply: arraignment, one or more pretrial conferences, a motion hearing, a readiness hearing, then trial. A quote that covers pretrial only is a real product, honestly sold, but it is not the same product as one that covers trial.
Then ask what falls outside the fee no matter what. Court costs, filing fees, the price of a certified driving abstract, an interpreter, an expert on a breath test or radar calibration, an investigator, deposition transcripts, and the cost of a defensive driving course or an ignition interlock are ordinarily yours regardless of who represents you. None of that is hidden or unusual. It simply is not attorney time, and a written fee agreement that lists these separately is a sign of a practice that has thought the problem through.
The line between one hearing and a case carried through trial
The gap between a pretrial fee and a full-representation fee reflects real work, and it is worth understanding what that work is before deciding the cheaper number is the better deal. Trial preparation on a misdemeanor traffic charge means obtaining and reviewing discovery, watching dash and body camera footage frame by frame, subpoenaing maintenance records for the instrument used, drafting and arguing suppression motions, preparing cross-examination of the arresting officer, and appearing on days the court sets rather than days anyone chose. Most cases resolve before that point. The fee structure exists because some do not.
A staged agreement, in which one amount covers everything up to a readiness hearing and a second amount, disclosed in advance, applies if the case is set for trial, is common and perfectly reasonable. What matters is that the second number appears in writing at signing, not in a conversation three months later. Ask what happens if the case resolves early, whether any portion is refundable, and whether the fee is earned on receipt. Washington attorneys are required to put fee terms in writing under the rules of professional conduct, so a written agreement is the baseline, not a favor.
When the court pays instead
On a criminal charge, including a DUI, driving while license suspended, reckless driving, or hit and run, the constitutional right to counsel attaches, and the court will screen you for court-appointed representation if you ask. The screening is financial: you complete a declaration of indigency listing income, household size, dependents, assets, and monthly obligations, and the court compares that against the standard it applies. Getting screened is a matter of telling the clerk at or before arraignment that you are requesting appointed counsel, and answering the questions accurately. There is no penalty for asking and being found ineligible.
Public defenders in King County and the municipal courts within it carry heavy caseloads, and the work they do is real criminal defense, not a lesser version of it. Some jurisdictions recoup part of the cost later through an assessment. If you are close to the line, the honest comparison is between an appointed attorney who knows that courtroom well and a private attorney whose scope you have read carefully. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration oversees impaired driving programs nationally, and the consequences that flow from these charges reach well past the courtroom.
Infractions are a different calculation
A speeding ticket is civil, the burden is a preponderance of the evidence, and no jail is possible, so there is no right to appointed counsel and none will be offered. Whatever you spend on an infraction is a business decision measured against the insurance and abstract consequences of the finding, not against a risk of custody. That makes the flat fee easy to evaluate: compare the quote to what a committed finding will cost you over three to five years of premiums.
Get the scope in writing, get the stopping point named, and get the second number before you need it.