Parking Cost Calculator
What parking costs over a year, and whether a permit is cheaper than paying daily.
Parking is the car cost that hides in small amounts. A few units a day at work, a meter at the weekend and a permit at home add up to a figure that often rivals the insurance bill.
Enter what you pay for work, home and occasional parking, and this calculator compares paying each day with buying a permit, and shows the annual total and the cost per working day.
At a glance
- What you enter
- Parking at work per day, Days you park at work per month, Monthly permit alternative, Home parking permit per year, Occasional and weekend parking per month, Other parking costs per year
- What you get
- Total parking cost per year, Cost per month, Cost per working day, Permit saving per year
- Formula shown
- Yes - every step, right below your results.
- Cost and privacy
- Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.
See worked examples ↓ Read the FAQ ↓ Share this calculator ↓
Results are estimates for general information only - always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.
How to use the Parking Cost Calculator
- 1 Enter Parking at work per day
- 2 Enter Days you park at work per month
- 3 Enter Monthly permit alternative
- 4 Enter Home parking permit per year
- 5 Enter Occasional and weekend parking per month
- 6 Enter Other parking costs per year - Airport parking, event parking, a garage you rent.
- 7 Press Calculate. You get Total parking cost per year, Cost per month, Cost per working day, Permit saving per year, and every intermediate step stays visible under “How is this calculated?”
- 8 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result - that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.
Worked examples
Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.
$9 a day at work against a $120 monthly permit
Twenty-one working days a month, with a $150 home permit and $30 of weekend parking.
You enter
- Parking at work per day
- $9.00
- Days you park at work per month
- 21
- Monthly permit alternative
- $120.00
- Home parking permit per year
- $150.00
- Occasional and weekend parking per month
- $30.00
- Other parking costs per year
- $0.00
You get
- Total parking cost per year
- $1,950.00
- Cost per month
- $162.50
- Cost per working day
- $5.71
- Permit saving per year
- $828.00
Paying the daily rate on 21 days comes to $2,268 a year, and the permit comes to $1,440, so the permit saves $828 and is the figure used. Work parking of $1,440 plus the $150 home permit and $360 of weekend parking gives $1,950 a year, or $162.50 a month. The work parking works out at $5.71 for each of the 252 working days.
$15 a day at work against a $190 monthly permit
Eighteen working days a month, a cheaper home permit and $260 of airport parking.
You enter
- Parking at work per day
- $15.00
- Days you park at work per month
- 18
- Monthly permit alternative
- $190.00
- Home parking permit per year
- $90.00
- Occasional and weekend parking per month
- $45.00
- Other parking costs per year
- $260.00
You get
- Total parking cost per year
- $3,170.00
- Cost per month
- $264.17
- Cost per working day
- $10.56
- Permit saving per year
- $960.00
Paying daily on 18 days costs $3,240 a year and the permit costs $2,280, so the permit wins by $960. The annual total is $2,280 of work parking plus a $90 home permit, $540 of weekend parking and $260 of other parking, which is $3,170 a year or $264.17 a month. The work parking is $10.56 for each of the 216 working days, and the home permit is the smallest of the four lines.
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Frequently asked questions
Does the permit replace the daily charge or add to it?
It replaces it. The calculator works out the cost of paying the daily rate for every working day and the cost of the permit for twelve months, then uses whichever is lower for the work parking line. Both figures are reported so you can see how far apart they are and how much the permit saves.
Paying $9 a day on 21 working days is $2,268 a year, and a $120 monthly permit is $1,440, so the permit saves $828. The comparison assumes you would park at work every working day, so if you are often away or work from home, lower the days figure and the daily option becomes more competitive.
What if the permit is more expensive than paying daily?
Then the calculator uses the daily option, and the verdict line reports that the permit is not cheaper. The saving figure still shows the difference between the two so you can see how far apart they are. Nothing is added for the convenience of a guaranteed space, which for some drivers is worth paying for.
A permit also removes the risk of a fine on a day when the car park is full, and that risk is not in the calculation. If the two options are close, the permit is usually the easier choice even when the arithmetic slightly favours paying each day.
Is the cost per working day the whole parking cost?
No, it covers work parking only. It takes the cheaper of the daily rate and the permit and divides it by the days you park, so it answers the question of what a day at work costs to park. Home permits, weekend parking, airport parking and a rented garage are separate lines and are not put on a per-day basis.
That is deliberate, because dividing a home permit across working days would be misleading. Read the annual total for the whole picture and the per-day figure for the comparison with a colleague or a different office.
What belongs in the occasional and other fields?
The occasional field is a monthly amount for weekend and evening parking: a meter in town, a match, a cinema, a station car park. It is multiplied by twelve to become an annual figure. The other field is an annual amount for things that do not fit anywhere else, such as airport long-stay parking, event parking or a garage you rent.
Fines and clamping are not included anywhere, and neither is the time spent looking for a space. In a dense city those two can be a real part of the cost, so if they apply to you, add an average monthly amount to the occasional field and note it to yourself.