Car Park Management: Expectations Vs Reality

The majority of land or business owners who operate car parks on private land will run into issues at some point sooner or later. Parking abuse is all too easy for people where there are little or no sanctions or enforcements in place to ensure that the parking spaces on offer are used properly – and by the motorists who need them the most.

If this is you, you’ll want to turn to a Car Park Management provider to help you out, but there are many names out there, and until there’s something centralised to hold the industry to account, you’ll find that not all of those names comply with – or reach – industry standards. In fact, you may have already found a parking partner to work with to sort out your car park management, but you’ve also found that the reality isn’t really living up to the expectations you were sold…

Sounding familiar?

Car Park Management
Car Park Management

The issues…

The issue you may find yourself in right now as a busy land or business owner – or a facilities manager working on behalf of one of those people – is that you end up tied into a contract with a parking partner who actually makes life more difficult for you, rather than take care of the problematic parking that you initially appointed them to tackle.

At Parkingeye, we have a 97% customer retention rate, so we know we’re doing something right, but we put a lot of this customer satisfaction down to the fact that we work closely in partnership with our clients, and begin this relationship with them by being fully transparent about what to expect when you sign up with a provider to secure your car park management solutions.

You’re about to make a significant change in the way you run your car park, so there are going to be some expectations to manage.

Here’s just a few…

A barrier to a successful partnership​

Parkingeye are huge advocates for the use – where appropriate – of ANPR systems to handle our clients’ car park management. This negates the need for barriers, which, if installed by another provider (which a lot of them do as a standard one-size-fits-all approach), can be unreliable. If barriers as a mechanical fixture become temperamental or break down (that’s life), not only does this cause issues with access to your site, traffic congestion outside of it, and inconvenience to your service users, but it also means that you’re losing valuable revenue from parking as a result. This is especially frustrating when you’ve been promised the spoils of instant revenue by your parking partner.

 

Getting your parking straight​

Issues are going to arise in any context and in any circumstance when a site is being transformed and new operations are being put into play on a car park. Any provider who tells you different just isn’t being straight with you. At Parkingeye, we don’t offer a one-stop solution to our clients – everything is tailored around individual needs. Even before your system is installed and goes live on site, your Account Manager will be in regular contact with you. They’ll check you’re happy and that you can already see progress via the support we give you in communicating with your service users and staff regarding the changes that are about to happen, how it’s going to affect them, and how we can make it hassle-free. And after it all goes live? We’re still around then, too – if you need us. This is certainly the case for dealing with parking charges. You don’t even have to touch that – unless you want to.

 

Parkingeye

Parking down the line

Though we’re proud of the fact that within a three-month period, most of our clients witness a significant drop in car parking abuse on their sites – if not even being able to eradicate it altogether – it is always important to us that we set out timescales like this to allow everyone to adjust to the new systems in place. So, if you’re wondering why your car park is still suffering from misuse and abuse, then it’s probably a mix of sub-par systems in place from your provider, and mis-managed expectations of how quickly this was all going to work as it got rolled out. Note – this is not your fault, because a reputable parking partner will always manage your expectations of results and timeframes. Similarly, remember that your car park is only ever going to be a success if you go beyond the remit of enforcement. At Parkingeye, we look at where our clients want and need to be much further down the line, and we work on a strategy with them that helps to fulfil those goals. So, whether you want to clean up and be more green, do more for blue badge holders, or just ensure that your customers get a much rosier picture of your premises, we’ll work with you to show you how it can be done. Don’t wait for another car park management provider to show their true colours.

 

Parkingeye

A solution that brings more problems than it solves?

At Parkingeye, enforcement is only ever the start, and the issuing of a parking charge is never the aim. Whilst many parking partners will put a system in place that purely enforces and sanctions, we’ve built our reputation on fairness, where we do everything possible – from BPA approved signage to offering numerous ways to pay – to give any motorists using your site the opportunity to do the right thing in complying with the rules that you set yourselves. This fairness – plus the fact that we actually handle parking charges end to end ourselves – leads to real protection of brand reputation for our clients. Working with another provider may indeed lay down the law, but it also leaves you with the fall-out should things go wrong; the short-term headache and the long-term damage to your reputation.

Find a great parking partner – like us – who works with you to generate fair and sustainable revenue, provide a positive customer experience, and drive operational bliss as you seek to hand over your car park woes to someone who knows what they’re doing, and you’ll soon find that your reality ends up exceeding your expectations. And, if you’re still on the fence (or the barrier) about working with a parking partner having perhaps never done it before or having felt like you’ve been involved in a hit and run style of solution implementation the last time around, check out our 5 things to look for in a car park management provider blog for some top tips in choosing a great provider.

Worked with us before and think we’ve missed something off that list – get in touch and let us know! We love to hear your feedback!

 

Car park management solutions

If you would like to find out more about our services, please head over to our car park management solutions page for more information, and get in touch with us today!

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