Car Parking Finder Mobile App Development: Cost and Features

Last Updated on September 12, 2022

With the growing number of cars on the road, it has become time-consuming to look for a parking spot at all places. All parking lots are thronged with cars leaving the car drivers to dismay. One has to take several rounds of the parking lot to find a place to park their car.

To resolve this problem of the car drivers, IT has provided an abundance of help by proving them with car parking finder mobile apps that take them directly to the vacant spots that can be used to park their vehicles.

Introduction to Car Parking Finder App

You must know how the parking finder mobile app works before investing your time and money in making one. Without having prior knowledge of app development companies that excel in making parking finders apps might affect the application. Only those can survive the competition that is made by well-known developers.

There are several steps to developing a parking finder app which the developers/companies need to follow. We have listed these steps below:

• Creating a business plan for the parking application you want to develop.
• It is best to study the competition by installing similar apps and using them to get a hang of how things work in such apps.
• The most important step is hiring the correct app developers for your app. These developers should have prior knowledge of developing such apps and should be able to build them without much interruptions and delays.
• Initially, the companies should consider developing MVP, therefore, it is important to decide upon the features they want to include during the initial phase of the application.
• Design plays an important role in app development. The easier and less complex the design, the better it is for comprehending. Users should be able to book their spots without having to click on too many tabs and links.
• Give your app a unique twist by adding some advanced features that help it outshine the competitors and help in more installs.
• A stagnant app with no growth and additional features or updates will not survive in the app world for long, as the competitors will win the game. Therefore, it is important not to be rigid and to keep updating the app throughout.

Car Parking Mobile App Business Types

Are you planning to build a parking finder application for mobile in the near future and confused with how will the business run? Well, there are several types of businesses one can consider doing through these apps.

Below is the segregation of the business types of parking finder mobile apps.

1. Dedicated

This one is most suitable for the startups as they can consider including just the main features under MVP without having to invest much. With the help of these applications, the users will just be able to find a parking spot nearest to their vehicle, however, they will not be allowed to make the booking with their device.

2. Aggregated

This one is a fully functional application with a plethora of options to choose from. The users can go through the entire process of looking up for a car parking space available near them, to making selection of the one that suits their requirements. The users can then make the booking online through the application and book the spot according to their preference and make an online payment. The app then assists the user in finding the location with the help of GPS and navigation features available.

3. Parking App full of functions

The development cost of an application is much higher as compared to the business models mentioned above. It takes the experience a notch higher with additional advanced features making it stand out of the crowd and generating interest of the users. This one allows the users to ask for door-to-door service and includes valet parking as well. This service is safe and secure as the users are provided with full details of the drivers taking their cars to the valet along with their identification photos.

How do Car Parking Spot Finder apps work?

These apps do not only provide a solution to the drivers of while looking for a parking spot for their car but also offers them a hassle-free experience without having to keep roaming around the parking lot again and again in search of a spot. These apps have made life easier as one can make a booking for a spot before in hand so that there is no last-minute disruption.

To start with it, there are six steps in using parking finder apps. Take a look at these steps:

• Searching: Initially the users locate their car on the app with the help of the GPS or by entering the address they are at.
• Comparing: Next up, the users lookup for parking spots available for them and compare which one suits them best according to the price and distance of both of them.
• Booking: Thirdly, the driver of the car books a spot for themselves and get access to it with a unique code.
• Paying: All payments are done online. The fourth step is making the payment of the parking spot booked.
• Driving: The app then helps the drivers reach the spot with the help of navigation. This helps in a seamless parking experience.
• Parking: The last step is parking the car at the spot reserved by the driver.

Why consider investing in Car Parking Finder Mobile Apps?

The parking finder mobile apps are the need of the hour and are gaining a lot of popularity because people don’t want to spend their time looking for parking spots. The app owners are minting a lot of money by getting these apps developed as these are not only providing convenience to the users but also giving them a sense of security. The achievement of these apps is clearly evident from the response they are getting from the users.

Now let us take the example of one such parking finder app named MKE Park which is operating in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the U.S. The app has seen more than 1,79,000 installs since 2015. The transactions of the app went up from 6,518 per week in 2015 to 16,913 in a week in the year 2018.

There is a high competition in the case of car parking mobile apps these days and it is very difficult for a new app to make its way to the top parking applications. However, one should be able to provide excellent features differentiating their app from the rest.

According to statistics, almost 30 percent of the traffic on roads is caused by people looking out for parking spots.

It is about time car drivers should start considering these apps for booking parking spots. Similarly, mobile app developers and owners should start considering making

Size of the Global Smart Car Parking Market 2018 – 2023 (in US bn)

A Statista report suggests that the global smart parking size is going to grow exponentially from 2018 to 2023. It is expected to grow to almost $ 3.8 billion by 2023, on a CAGR of 14 percent.

According to another report – Global Car Parking System Market Research Report, 2020-2026, the global car parking market size in 2019 was USD 2608.6 million which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.2 percent by 2026 and reach to USD 3490.4 million.

Significance of Geography Coverage & Parking Time in the case of Car Parking finder apps

It is essentially important to keep in mind the strengths along with the weaknesses of your competitors before setting a foot in the industry. These parking apps can be segregated in several different ways before being launched.

By the significance of geographical coverage

There are two tracks that all businesses should consider before venturing into the industry. Take a look at the two tracks:

1. Focu mainly on localizations

Under this category, parking finder apps include a coverage space in a certain megalopolis. They try to cover areas of indoor and on-road parking under their apps and provide service for the same. This is limited to a set parameter.

2. Focus on spreading geographically

Under this category, the services of a parking app provider are not limited to a certain city or a state. This one includes services that can be availed in a number of countries and various cities. One example of this is the ParkRight app which offers services in over 1,000 cities across the globe.

By the significance of parking time

Two categories come under this, whereas, parking owners can consider having both these categories in their app.

1. Parking in advance

Under this category of on-demand parking finder apps, the users can book a parking spot long before they want to park in that location. Apps that are built under this category notifies the users about the parking booking made by them at a spot.

2. Parking on the fly

Then there are apps that offer a tailor-made experience to the users, wherein they can book the parking slot on the go. They can enter their location and at the same time be notified about the parking spots that are available for them to park their car.

How do Car parking Spot Finder Apps make money?

There are plenty of opportunities for parking finder mobile apps to make money. Like all other apps, the app developers earn a lot of returns on these apps as well. Higher downloads will help the companies earn more revenue due to its reach and availability. These apps have not only enhanced the parking experience of the users but have taken it a notch higher by easing the entire process. Take a look at how these apps make money:

1. Commissions

This is one of the most profit earning ways and has proved to be a major revenue generator. Commissions function in a very easy manner, where a user books a parking slot from the app for which he is charged a fair amount of money by the parking owner. Though all the money goes to the parking owners, a certain percentage on each booking goes to the parking app owners. This way, the app owners get some amount for each booking made through the app.

2. Featured Listing

These basically involve the marketing and branding of the car parking owners. The money earned through this is certainly the extra buck one can make out of their application. Under this, the app owners run certain marketing campaigns on their landing pages allowing the park owners to buy space for featuring their brand and company name. The parking owners are charged some amount for featured listing on pages of these marketing campaigns.

3. Advertisements

Now this one is a common source of revenue generation for almost all mobile applications. They lend out space on their apps to other brand names that are associated with car parking, including car brands, car service centers among others. A lot of revenue is generated through this medium.

4. Subscription-based parking plans

This is a possible means of earning more money through the app. The app can give out users monthly or annual subscriptions, through which they have to pay a certain amount of money at the beginning of a month or a year to enjoy certain benefits of memberships and make advance bookings for the parking spots. This also helps the users to avoid queues and long lines for parking.

5. Loyalty points

To sustain revenue and keep the users glued on to your application, you must ensure to provide them certain benefits for their loyalty in some way or the other. This ensures a long association of the user with the app and a permanent source of revenue for the parking finder mobile application.

Things to avoid in Car Parking App Business

There are certain things that might annoy the users leading them to uninstall your parking finder mobile app from their device and replace it with another app in no time. Therefore, app developers should look at each function of these apps carefully before launching them. Following are some common mistakes that should be avoided by the parking finder apps:

1. Inconvenient filtering

A user has to enter his details and choices while filtering for comparing prices and looking at the available options. However, if a user inputs filters according to his choice and them clicks on the details of the garage and returns to the page, it will be annoying for the person to enter his details all over again once the information is lost. Therefore, it is important to secure the search filters to avoid the repetition of information.

2. Incorrect booking rates

Don’t let any discrepancies offer the app services. An app should display the accurate prices of the parking spot and any changes in the same might affect the reputation of the application. The user should be able to see only the real charges of the parking area.

3. Limitation of choice

A parking app should be able to offer a large number of parking spaces to the users. Limiting the parking spots might make it a hindrance. The parking app owners should always try to expand their business so that the user can get a better experience and wider scope for selecting a spot for their vehicle.

4. Poor information

A parking finder app should be well equipped with all the information on garages and other information. Lack of all such information will lose out on users as they might not find the application reliable and useful in the long run. The info should also include extra service, photos, address, contact information, and other important information.

5. Issues in app design

if the design of an app is confusing, it might not be able to appeal to the users. A lengthy and monotonous registration process might make the user lose interest in the beginning itself leading to uninstalling the app.

How to attract more users to your car parking app?

It is important for any app to have several users as a base of your app so as to achieve high success. Take a look at some tips to acquire a large number of users:

1. Offer benefits

In today’s times, users are always looking to avail offers and benefits and get some sort of advantage for using the app. Users should be able to bargain and receive some sort of loyalty points for a long term association. The app should also launch referral programs for users to get new users onboard.

2. Partnering with large organizations

Widen the horizon of your services to the retail delivery providers as well to make a stronger base. This will enable the retail business owners associated with your company to track their fleet and manage their expenses.

3. Partnering with shopping malls

Make a genuine user base by striking a deal with complex owners and shopping malls by managing their needs and their parking business. This will get unique users to your app.

Popular Car Parking Apps

1. BestParking

A nice car parking spot finder app that offers its services in many cities in North America. Offers useful features like pre-booking for a specific date and time. It has a rating of 4.8/5 with 24.3K ratings on iOS. It is also available on Android.

2. ParkingPanda

Another car parking app with superb features offering its services in the US, Canada, Chicago, and many other cities. It has a 4.7/5 score with 3.2K ratings on iOS and is also available on Android platform.

3. Parclick

Parclick can help you find parking spots in over 250 cities in Europe. A user can book a parking space in advance for a particular date and time for a long period of time. It offers subscription-based discounts to users who require parking spot finder service on a regular basis. You can find this app on Andoid as well as on iOS.

4. Parkopedia

This app is offering its car parking spot finder services of 70 million parking spaces in 15,000 cities all over the world. Is available on both iOS and Android. Offers an easy to use navigation Ui for users to reach empty parking spaces.

5. ParkMe

Another car parking app that offers users the facility of checking all the rates that they will incur if they decide to choose a particular parking spot. ParkMe offers it’s services in the US, Canada, and Europe as well.

General Features to include in a Car Parking app

User Panel

• Register / Login
• Allow System to track vehicle location
• Search Pickup Location
• Enter Estimated Arrival & Departure time
• Schedule Booking for parking space
• Book instantly
• Car back Request
• User Profile
• Manage History of Parking
• Payment History & Options
• Ratings and Reviews for parking spots

Admin Panel

• User Management
• Revenue Control
• Driver Management
• Manage Earnings
• Approve/Reject drivers Profile
• Add or Remove A Driver
• Bookings Manager
• Manage Offers
• Add New Locations
• Reports

Parker Panel

• Social Login/SignUp
• Add ID Proof documents
• Contact Customers
• Get Payment from Customers
• Check Reviews and Ratings
• Accept or Decline Parking Request

Advance Features to include in Car Parking App

Rate card

The rate card of the services includes the prices of parking spaces available on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. This enables the users to make better decisions on making the purchase of a package.

Vehicle tracking

The app includes GPS tracking which enables the users to track the location of their vehicle. The app also secures the availability of the right space of parking slots for the user’s vehicle.

Nearby place suggestion

This feature locates the users and suggests them for the nearby parking places available. If a user is unable to locate aby available spot, the app will suggest to them the nearby parking areas.

Push notification

This is one of the most prominent features in a parking finder app that helps the admin send out notifications to the users in case they offer any offer or discount or any other benefits to the users. With this medium, the users are also notified about any update of the parking space booked by them prior to their parking time.

Multiple cities

An app should allow the users to book parking spots in other cities as well when they are on vacations or business trips.

Waiting list

Users can have their favorite parking spots and might want to park their car at that location each time they visit the place. Therefore, they should be able to mention the parking spot they want and the app will notify them whenever the spot is vacant.

Heat map

This is a very useful feature helping the users save their time as it shows them the traffic on their route. The feature helps the users in making decisions regarding their visit to any place in a city.

Car Location tagging

A user can register and save the location of their car parking spot with the help of this feature. The location can then be shared on any of the social media accounts that are integrated into the app.

In-app communication

Communication is necessary for all mobile applications; therefore, they should be integrated with in-app tools for the same. The users should be able to chat or call the customer service personnel or the valet personnel through this feature without having to make a call via the phone.

Multilingual Support

This feature allows the users to operate the app in any desired language. With the help of these people traveling from other countries can also use this app.

Tech Stack Required for Car Parking App Development

• Cloud Environment: AWS
• Debian: Operating System
• SMS, Voice and Phone Verification: Nexmo
• Payments: Braintree and PayPal
• For things related to mails: Mandrill
• Powerful Programming: GWT
• Data Management: Datastax
• Database: Cassandra, MongoDB
• Push Notifications: Bandwidth, Twilio
• Realtime Analytics: Spark, Apache, Flink

The required mobile app development team

It is of extreme importance to get the best team to work on building a parking finder mobile app. The experts should have ample experience in the same and should be able to provide future assistance as well at any point in time. Take a look at the team structure required to build a parking spot finder app:

• Android app developer
• iOS app developer
• UX/UI designers
• Graphic designers
• Back-end developers
• QA experts
• Project manager

How much does it cost to develop a car parking finder mobile app

The cost of developing an app like a parking finder app may vary according to certain elements and inclusion of several features. Take a look at the factors that decide the cost of the application:

Factors which decide the Cost of Car Parking App

Geo Location of Smart Car Parking App Developers

The physical location of the app developers plays a major role in deciding the cost of an application. The app owner can either hire a full-time team of developers or get some experts to build the app on an hourly basis. Take a look at the cost of developers per hour in different locations:

• European developers: £ 80 – £ 120 per hour
• U.S. developers: $ 140 – $ 260 per hour
• Eastern Europe developers: $ 45 – $ 50 per hour
• Asian developers: $ 20 – $ 35 per hour

Third-Party Integrations

One more major contributor to the cost of mobile app development is the number of third-party service integrations required.

Custom Features

Every parking app has some basic features but the more custom features you decide to include in this app the higher will be the overall cost. So, app development cost depends on the number of functionalities as well.

Timeline of Project

This is also a significant contributor to the cost of development. As the less time, you demand to complete the app the higher will be the total cost.

So, if we add up the basic costs of the car parking app then such an app will cost around $ 8000 to $ 15000. If you decide to add custom features for Android as well as the iOS version then it can cost you around $ 18000 to $ 35000.

Conclusion

There are a lot of features that you have to take care of if you are looking forward to developing on-demand parking finding app. Automotive software development is one of the growing industries. And there is a lot of scope for new entrants to capture niche markets. Although you might look forward to an exceptional application, the final result can only be flawless if you hire the right team with expert app developers in the same arena to develop your app. It is one of the flourishing industries with a prosperous future.