The 3 biggest mistakes businesses make with their parking and how to solve them

Car parks are often seen as simpler than they actually are.

It’s easy to see them as just somewhere to leave a car. But they could be so much more than that. Businesses often overlook their parking constantly, ignoring the opportunities to deliver a better experience, greater insight, and drive additional revenue.

We’re highlighting some of the ways businesses get their parking wrong, and how, with the right support, they can be fixed.

Mistake No. 1 – Not having rules in place

Not having rules in place in a car park creates a free-for-all that can seriously harm a business.

Whether that’s no rules on how long people can stay, or measures to prevent anti-social behaviour or poor parking. A lack of control creates a site people actively avoid because it becomes open to abuse.

That’s a reputational hit for a brand alongside a loss of revenue and footfall. Parking is a gateway to a business, and poor parking sends the entirely wrong message to potential customers and partners.

The fix is simple. Straightforward rules, backed up by technology that removes guesswork. ANPR tracks vehicle registrations and helps create a simple way to reduce abuse. No more overstaying or failing to pay for parking.

Think of ANPR as a foundation for a car park, one that can be built on. The insight and tracking it provides can enable a wealth of other solutions that continually stack positive results for a site, from revenue generation to EV adoption and visitor experience.

Mistake No. 2 – Not modernising your car park

Establishing rules on a car park is a great start, but that’s not necessarily the end of the story.

Times change. So do technology, user requirements, and visitor expectations. Your car park needs to adapt to those changes to meet people’s needs, or they will look for somewhere else to park that does.

Whether that’s modernising how people pay for parking, through contactless payment, or an app. Introducing EV chargers to a site to help motorists top up their battery or providing new ways to plan and control a stay, such as pre-booking. Your car park cannot ignore changing needs, otherwise it risks being left behind.

ANPR helps with all of this, from enabling pre-booking by understanding who is on a car park and when. To improving access to major car park investments such as EV chargers by protecting those spaces from misuse.

Find out how we can modernise your parking

Mistake No. 3 – Not using data to improve understanding

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is ignoring the information their car park can give them.

There is a wealth of data created and tracked by ANPR that can help businesses to make more informed decisions about their parking and their wider operations. This covers multiple areas, including:

The time spent on site, letting businesses identify abuse, busy periods, and average stay duration.

Fuel type. Using ANPR and DVLA information, it’s possible to create a breakdown in the types of vehicles using a car park. This is invaluable for assessing changes in vehicles and gauging the potential demand for EV chargers. This works on two fronts: deciding firstly if you need the chargers and then gauging the scale of investment you need.

Tracking revenue and payment information. This is great for tracking performance but also lets you understand the subtle changes in customer behaviour. Are more people paying by card? Has everyone adopted app-based payment? These changes let you reflect their needs in your site, modernising your payment options, or predicting trends and embracing what people need.

Data is one of the single most powerful tools in a business’s arsenal. The insight lets you make decisions that are grounded in irrefutable fact instead of guesswork. This means more confident and more reliable decisions about a site, which yield stronger returns.

The support you need

The right car park management provider can help solve issues and implement the perfect mix of solutions to support your site.

At Parkingeye, we work with businesses from across the UK, from huge NHS Trusts to major retailers, hotel chains and prestigious universities. We understand that every car park has its own nuances and requirements, which is why we work with our clients to understand their problems and suggest the right blend of solutions to solve them.

To find out more about our services and how we can support your business, get in touch using our form.