Prepaid Parking Stays: Sell the Three Days When the Customer Arrives, Not When They Leave
A prepaid stay is parking time sold up front: the customer says when they're leaving, the system builds the cheapest combination of your own rates that covers that time, you charge on entry, and the car is covered until a specific date and time. Nothing is calculated at exit: if the car leaves within what it bought, it just goes; if it overstays, it pays only the excess.
A car pulls in at 3 p.m. on Monday and the customer says: "I'm back Thursday at nine." Today, at most lots, two bad things happen at once. First: the attendant starts punching a calculator — two days, one night, a few hours — and comes up with a number nobody can verify. Second: the car sits inside for three days without a dollar collected, and on Thursday it's charged whatever the system says, which is not what the customer understood on Monday.
The prepaid stay fixes both: you charge on Monday, at a price the system built, and the ticket says how long the car can stay.
The problem: "I'm staying until Thursday" and nobody knows what that costs
A lot at a transit station, an airport or a hotel has its rates: hourly, full day, overnight. With those, the price of "Monday 3 p.m. to Thursday 9 a.m." exists — but nobody knows it by heart. It's 66 hours. Is that three days? Two days plus a night plus some hours? All hourly?
Every attendant solves it differently, and every way is wrong somehow:
- The one who rounds up charges three full days even though the car leaves Thursday at 9. The customer feels they paid for six hours they didn't use.
- The one who rounds down to "avoid an argument" gives away your money.
- The one who charges at exit leaves three days of parking uncollected, with a car that could drive off unpaid or dispute the total on Thursday when nobody remembers what was agreed on Monday.
And in all three cases, when the owner checks, the bill can't be reconstructed. "Why did you charge $70?" "That's roughly what it came to."
What is a prepaid stay?
It's a right to time, not a cash advance. The system records "this car is covered until Thursday the 17th at 9:00 a.m." and that's what rules:
- It's charged at the sale, at the price the system built from your rates.
- The ticket says how long the car is covered. The customer leaves with the date on paper.
- Parking isn't recalculated at exit. If the car leaves early or right on time, exit is one click. If it leaves late, only the extra time is charged.
- It doesn't invent prices. It uses the rates you already have (hourly, full day, overnight), combined in the cheapest way.
You turn it on under Settings → Features → Prepaid stays. It's off by default, because not every lot needs it.
How do you sell a stay?
Right in the check-in flow, as one more option. Three steps:
- "Until when is the car staying?" The attendant picks 24 hours, 2 days, 1 week, or sets the exact day and time: Thursday 9:00 a.m.
- The system shows how you can charge for those hours. Same rates as your lot, combined differently: the cheapest first, and the other options next to it, each with its price and how long it covers.
- Pick one, charge, check in. The customer pays, the ticket prints with the coverage, and in the vehicles table the car shows a chip: Covered · Thu 9:00 a.m.
A regular check-in stays just as fast: the stay is one extra link nobody has to touch when the car is in for two hours.
How does the system build the price?
From the rates you already have. Say your lot has these three for cars:
| Rate | Price |
|---|---|
| Hourly | $2 per hour |
| Full day (24 hours) | $25 |
| Overnight (8 p.m. to 7 a.m.) | $8 |
The car arrives Monday at 3 p.m. and the customer says "until Thursday at 9 a.m.": 66 hours. The system proposes:
| Option | How it's built | Total | Covers until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest | 2 full days (Mon 3 p.m. → Wed 3 p.m.) + 5 hours (Wed 3 → 8 p.m.) + 1 night (Wed 8 p.m. → Thu 7 a.m.) + 2 hours (Thu 7 → 9 a.m.) | $72 | Thursday 9:00 a.m. |
| 3 full days | 3 × $25 | $75 | Thursday 3:00 p.m. (covers 6 h extra) |
| All hourly | 66 × $2 | $132 | Thursday 9:00 a.m. |
The attendant chooses. Almost always the cheapest, but sometimes the customer prefers three full days in case they run late, and the system says explicitly that the option "covers 6 h extra".
It works the same for short stays, which is where you notice most that the system does the math:
| The customer says | Cheapest | If it were all hourly |
|---|---|---|
| "Until tomorrow, same time" (24 h) | 1 full day · $25 | $48 |
| "Back tomorrow at 8" (arrived 9 p.m.) | 1 night + 1 hour · $10 | $22 |
| "Until tomorrow at 7 p.m." (28 h) | 1 full day + 4 hours · $33 | $56 |
None of those numbers were invented by the system: they're your rates, added up.
What happens if the car overstays or leaves early?
If it overstays, the excess is charged with the rate chosen at the sale (by default, the vehicle's rate). A car covered until Thursday 9 a.m., with "hourly" at $2 as the excess rate:
| Leaves | Excess | Charged at exit |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 10 a.m. | none | $0, one click |
| Thursday 9:00 a.m. sharp | none | $0, one click |
| Thursday 9:20 a.m. | 20 minutes | $2 (one hour) |
| Thursday 11:30 a.m. | 2 h 30 min | $6 |
| Friday 9:00 a.m. | 24 hours | $48 |
Look at the last row: the excess is charged at the hourly rate, not the full-day rate. That's why which rate you pick for the excess at the sale matters: if your lot would rather have the extra day come out to $25, pick the full day as the excess rate and you're done. What was agreed at the sale is what gets charged, even if you change your rates between Monday and Thursday.
In the table, a car that has overstayed shows as Overdue · 2 h, so the attendant sees it before the customer walks up.
If it leaves early, there's no refund. They bought until Thursday and left Wednesday: they paid for what they bought. Same rule as a hotel, and the ticket says so from the start.
What's the difference between a prepaid stay and charging on entry?
They look alike because in both cases the customer pays on the way in, but they solve different problems:
| Charging on entry | Prepaid stay | |
|---|---|---|
| What for | Events, nightlife, late nights: one-click exit and nobody drives off unpaid | Cars staying for days: sell the time at a clear price |
| What's paid | A fixed rate (the night, the event) | A combination of your rates until a date |
| Who builds the price | The rate already says it | The system calculates it from the departure time |
| How long | As long as the rate lasts | Up to 14 days |
If your problem is the exit line after the concert, that's charging on entry. If your problem is the customer who says "back Thursday", that's the stay.
Which parking lots benefit?
Transit stations and airports
The customer is traveling and leaves the car for days. They want to know what it costs before leaving, not find a surprise when they return. The stay gives them a price and a date on the ticket.
Hotels with parking
The guest stays the nights they booked. Selling parking for the same span, right away, is the natural move, and the excess covers the guest who extends.
Lots near hospitals
Family members staying two, three days. Being able to say "until Thursday it's $72" and charge once takes a worry off them — and takes an uncollected car off your hands.
Any lot with a full-day rate
If you already have a 24-hour rate, it's because multi-day cars already show up. The stay is the way to sell it well: combined with hours and nights, with no math by hand.
When is it NOT for you?
- If your cars stay hours, not days. A mall or office lot doesn't need this; charge at exit as usual.
- If you only have an hourly rate. The system can still sell "66 hours at the hourly rate", but the value is in combining day, night and hour. With a single rate, the stay saves nothing.
- If the customer stays more than two weeks. That's no longer a stay, it's a monthly pass, and the system tells you so: a stay covers at most 14 days.
Three things to keep in mind
An agreed price exists, but behind a PIN. If you negotiated a different amount with the customer, the attendant can enter an "agreed price" instead of a combination. You decide under Settings → Security whether that requires your PIN. Picking a calculated combination never asks for it: there, the system set the price.
You extend, you don't edit. If the customer calls on Wednesday and says they're back Friday, the attendant sells another stay that starts where the previous one ended. The first one isn't touched: the ticket already printed stays true.
The maximum is 14 days. Beyond that it's a monthly pass, with its own billing cycle and its own screen.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to create new rates to sell stays? No. The system combines the ones you already have: hourly, full day, overnight. The more you have, the better the combinations.
Can the attendant pick an option that isn't the cheapest? Yes. The system shows up to four ways to charge the same time, cheapest first, and the attendant chooses with the customer.
What if the car leaves before the date? It leaves with one click and there's no refund: it paid for the time it bought.
And if it stays past the date? It pays only the excess, calculated with the rate chosen at the sale. In the table it shows as "Overdue" from the first minute.
Can I sell a stay to a car that's already inside? Yes, from the vehicles table. That's also how you extend a stay that's about to run out.
Can I sell more than 14 days? No. That's what monthly passes are for, and they work differently.
In short
A prepaid stay turns "back Thursday" into a price the system built from your rates, charged on Monday, with the coverage date on the ticket. The attendant does no math, the customer knows what they paid and until when, and you stop having three-day cars sitting uncollected. If it overstays, it pays the excess; if it leaves early, it already paid.
If multi-day cars show up at your lot, Parqueadero.app is free and stays turn on with a switch.
Published September 8, 2026.