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Custom Parking Permits: Which Style is Best for Your Lot?

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From hang tags to parking stickers to cling permits, parking permits just make good sense. They help businesses and organizations control traffic in areas of limited parking, regulate the security of your facility and – fun bonus – they’re also low-key marketing tools.

Businesses, gyms, hospitals, universities, arenas, parking garages and more can all benefit from using parking permits for their staff, employees, and visitors. But which kind of permit is right for you? Read on to find out!

What are the Benefits of Parking Permits?

Parking permits, regardless of which kind you choose to use, all provide the same key elements:

Security

Unauthorized vehicles are easy to spot when you issue permits to residents, employees, students, or other regular visitors. For organizations where building security is a top priority, extending security measures to your parking areas gives you more control of who’s coming and going from your facility.

Traffic control

Areas with limited parking, such as apartment complexes, only have so many parking spots to go around. Permits and posted signs letting everyone know that the areas you designate are “parking permit only” will make sure residents can actually park near where they live.

For arenas or other heavy traffic areas, permits can separate visitors into designated areas such as handicapped or VIP.

Marketing

For businesses and other organizations that want to cash in on a sense of exclusivity, parking permits are a great way for customers, members, and others to show off that they snagged their very own spot at your parking facility.

And since brand awareness is built in large part on exposure, the more people that see your parking permit on the vehicles around them, the more aware of your brand and organization they’ll become. It’s a win-win for all!

What are the Different Types of Parking Permits?

Parking permits come in a wide variety of sizes and materials. But no matter how you customize your permits with logos, number systems, color coding or expiration dates, your basic design begins with choosing one of these three types of permits:

Hang Tag Parking Permits

Hanging parking permits, or hang tags, do exactly what you’d think they do. They hang from the rearview mirror of a vehicle. From a design standpoint, hang tag permits offer more space to include more information than other types of permits.

Additionally, hang tags are easy for security to spot no matter what kind of parking facility you have, and they’re easy for visitors to use and store inside their vehicle.

Parking Stickers

Parking stickers, you guessed it, usually stick to the outside of a vehicle. Either on the front or back windshield or somewhere on the back bumper. However, some stickers are made with face adhesive and placed on the inside of the vehicle window facing out. Window tinting in modern vehicles may reduce visibility on the back window; therefore, most face adhesive window permits are designed for the front windshield. While you’re a little more constrained when it comes to size, especially if designing a windshield permit, there’s still a lot of variety in shapes.

These permanent stickers are a stick it and forget it situation (until they expire). Note: We recommend using an expiration date in your art to avoid counterfeiting situations. Some businesses, like a hotel or a nonprofit organization, provide hang tag parking permits for temporary guests or volunteers. In these situations, hang tag permits are useful and easily transferable from one person (or vehicle) to the next.

Cling Permits

Cling parking permits are printed on a material that sticks to the inside of a window or windshield but is also easy to remove.

Because they adhere with static, there is no adhesive residue to clean up when they expire and need to be replaced.

Key Considerations When Choosing a Parking Permit

Each of the types of parking permits above have their pluses and minuses. Which one works best for you and your organization will depend on how the following factors affect your parking area or facility.

Location on Car

When it comes to visibility, hanging permits take the lead. Displayed in a central location in the interior of the car, hang tags are relatively easy to spot no matter which direction the vehicle is facing when parked.

Many people like to back into their parking spot to make leaving later a little easier, but if your parking permit is to the rear of the vehicle, verifying someone’s permit is that much more difficult for your security to check.

If your facility or parking area is mostly parallel parking, or if the area is open enough to allow security to walk all the way around a vehicle easily and quickly, this factor may not carry as much weight in your final decision.

Weather

Durability is always a key consideration, no matter where your permit will be placed in or on a vehicle. For outside permits, weather is of course a major factor. Yet interior permits must still be able to withstand extreme temperatures, humidity, and condensation.

In areas of volatile seasonal weather, if your facility doesn’t offer shelter from the elements then opting for an interior permit might be best for you. Parking garages and other indoor facilities don’t necessarily need to prioritize weather considerations for their design.

Industry

Some businesses and organizations don’t mind the branding boost that comes from a permanently displayed parking permit. Authorized vehicles become little rolling billboards, grabbing attention with bright colors and prominent logos and building that brand recognition. However other organizations, such as those in the government sector or security industry, may not want that kind of exposure. Ultimately your security measures will dictate just how visible you want your permits to be.

Design Custom Hang Tag Parking Permits with Stomp

Stomp’s easy to use design tool helps you create secure hang tag parking permits in no time at all, with or without numbering. If you’d prefer to use a sticker or static permit, contact us to discuss your custom needs.

Custom Parking Permits: Which Style is Best for Your Lot?