Last updated July 2024
That awesome rate you got on your hotel room by using our booking strategies becomes less awesome if you have to pay more than $60 per day to park in the hotel’s outrageously priced garage.
Several websites and apps can help you find a good spot by providing pricing for garages and lots located in and around the downtown areas of more than 100 U.S. cities and most major U.S. airports. Simply pick a city or airport, enter an address or select a neighborhood, indicate when you plan to arrive and depart, and these sites and apps map out for you the total prices for most public lots and garages in the vicinity. Most also list prices for monthly contracts, hours of operation, type of facility (self-park or valet) and payment options.
How much can you save?
Quite a bit. We often use these resources and almost always find differences of $10 or more per day among garages located only a few blocks apart. All the apps we tried allow you to enter your destination and list the distance from that spot and each parking location. Although we typically see less variation among garages for monthly rates, in several cities we often find differences of $75 per month or more among garages located close to one another.
The savings are bigger in some places than others; generally larger cities offer more parking facilities to choose from, so you’ll see a wider range of prices. When we shopped for a parking spot within a three-block radius in New York’s Theater District for the same four-hour period on a Friday evening, BestParking spit out prices ranging from $25 to more than $50. For eight hours of Saturday afternoon parking near the Art Institute of Chicago. ParkWhiz displayed nearby options ranging from $13 to $35. One of the best features of these services? They take the guesswork out of finding the lowest rates.
What to know
To get these savings, you must book a discounted prepaid rate that’s available only to the app’s users. Indicate the times you'll arrive and leave and reserve your spot by paying in advance, and then the company emails or texts you a barcode. You simply scan it to enter and exit the garage. If you change your mind or can't make it, the best sites let you cancel your reservation and get a refund, so long as you do so before your start time begins. When you arrive, if a spot is not available in the lot or garage you booked, the company refunds your money, but we find this happens infrequently).
All the apps we tested provided detailed arrival instructions and photos of garage entrances. Pay attention to garage details, which the apps provide. Especially in big cities, there are sometimes restrictions on vehicle size (or an upcharge to accommodate larger SUVs or vans). Some garages close earlier in the evening than others, so if you think you’ll run late, consider finding a facility that can accommodate that.
If you will need to leave and return during your reservation, read the fine print—such “in and out privileges” usually is not allowed.
Which services work best?
We test drove all the parking sites and apps we could find. Here are our favorites, based on prices offered, selection of garages, ease of use, and friendly cancelation policies. All these apps operate similarly and offer most of the same features, but it may be worth checking more than one because each may offer different parking options.
- Owned by Park Whiz, the next service on our list; he two services operate independently but are similar
- Easy to use; very clear instructions and pics to help you find your garage and access it
- Offers lower prepaid/special rates
- Can cancel for a full refund up until the arrival time on your reservation
- Often offers free bonus hours
- Easy to use; singles out the best nearby rate and offers clear instructions and pics to help you find your garage and access it
- Often offers lower prepaid/special rates than other apps
- Can cancel for a full refund until one minute before the arrival time on your reservation
- Easy to use; singles out the best nearby rate and offers clear instructions and pics to help you find and access your garage
- Often offers lower prepaid/special rates than other apps; also partners with event venues to match attendees with spots
- Can cancel for a full refund until the minute before the arrival time on your reservation.
- We often see it on cashback portals; more on those here.