Please don't take out a loan. Stay with the public defender. They will both do the same job. One will do it for free and the other will take your money. I used to work for criminal defense attorneys (private) and DUIs were so routine they could do them with their eyes closed. They are probably even more routine for the public defender. The thing is, and this disgusted me, is that private attorneys try to sell the clients, so they will tell you things that are not necessarily the truth or more like versions of the truth. Then once you pay them the case goes into a stack much like it does over at the PD. I use to feel like I worked with the most horrible people and I didn't mean the criminals. I had no problem dealing with the pedophiles even murders who were generally polite but the lawyers were huge hustlers and pretty crazy. Of course, it depends on the attorney how much attention is given to your case but one thing I did learn is that in general, especially in routine, smaller misdemeanor cases (DUIs), the PD and private attorneys do the exact same job with the exact same results. I'm pretty sure statistics confirm this. The reality of your situation is that the public defender is probably telling you the truth while the private attorneys are trying to sell you their services. Very rarely did I see a DUI get dismissed or go to trial. However, it seems like they don't even have your blood alcohol level and I don't see how they could charge you with a DUI without that. In that case I would be surprised if it is not dismissed and you definitely don't need a private lawyer for that.