A pay machine costs €3,000 to €8,000 to buy, needs annual maintenance, fails in a power cut and doesn't accept credit cards unless you buy the expensive model. There's an alternative that's cheaper, easier to manage and works better for drivers who want to pay quickly and move on.
Revtek · 15 February 2026
On arrival, the driver enters the car park. The ANPR camera at the entry logs the plate and start time. An open site needs no barrier; on a gated site the barrier rises.
On exit, the driver approaches the barrier. The camera reads the plate again and calculates the parking duration. The system sends a payment request via WhatsApp with a Mollie payment link for iDEAL, credit card and other methods. The driver pays on their phone, and the barrier opens as soon as payment is confirmed. That usually takes half a minute or less.
No cash. No ticket to find. No queue at a machine.
A pay machine for a commercial car park costs €3,000 to €8,000 to buy, depending on the model. Annual maintenance of €300 to €600, cash collection and occasional repairs come on top. Over five years you're looking at €6,000 to €12,000 per machine.
The ANPR cameras for a comparable setup cost €800 to €1,800 for two units. The Revtek subscription for a commercial car park with payment functionality starts at €225 per month. Full details on the pricing page. Over five years that is €13,500, including updates, new features and support, with no additional hardware costs.
WhatsApp payment works for the vast majority of drivers. But the system also supports a fallback: a QR code at the exit that leads to a payment page that works in any browser, without WhatsApp. And for sites with a reception desk or cashier, the manager can manually release a payment via the dashboard.
Usually only a small share of payers use that alternative. It is mainly there for older visitors and foreign guests without a Dutch phone number.
Many commercial car parks have a mix of paying visitors and fixed users: employees of a neighbouring business, season pass holders or monthly subscribers. Their plates go on a whitelist and they pay through a monthly subscription settled separately.
The system distinguishes the two groups automatically based on the plate. A subscription holder drives through without a payment request; a visitor gets the request on exit. No manual action needed to maintain that separation.
For sites with fewer than fifty paying visitors per day, a pay machine is almost always more expensive than a plate-based payment solution. Costs only come out roughly equal at a full commercial car park in a busy area, and even there automatic payment saves admin.
More on the specific setup for commercial car parks on the commercial parking page.
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