Parking lot payback
What a lot costs to build and run, what it earns a day, and how many in-game days until it has paid for itself.
Early access. Car Park Capital changes between patches. Every number here is for game build 25985572 (read 2026-10-19); we re-read the files when the game updates.
How this works: a bay costs $100 and nothing to run; each entrance and exit costs $300 and $400 a day; asphalt is $4 a tile. A full bay earns the rate for every minute of the 900-minute day. The rate starts at the highest one no driver turns away at, for your city's carbrainess.
Your lot
Each car pays minutes parked × the rate it saw at the entrance, rounded down to a whole dollar. Bays in use is the share of the day the average bay has a car in it; glance at the lot during a day. Income here assumes the cars come; where they come depends on parking demand, which is location based.
Payback for a 20-bay lot
One entrance, one exit, 72 new asphalt tiles ($2,888), at the highest rate nobody turns away from.
| Carbrainess | Rate / min | Bays in use | Profit / day | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30% | $0.31 | 40% | $1,446 | 2.0 days |
| 30% | $0.31 | 70% | $3,131 | 0.9 days |
| 30% | $0.31 | 100% | $4,816 | 0.6 days |
| 50% | $0.47 | 40% | $2,570 | 1.1 days |
| 50% | $0.47 | 70% | $5,097 | 0.6 days |
| 50% | $0.47 | 100% | $7,624 | 0.4 days |
| 70% | $0.62 | 40% | $3,693 | 0.8 days |
| 70% | $0.62 | 70% | $7,062 | 0.4 days |
| 70% | $0.62 | 100% | $10,432 | 0.3 days |
What is read from the game and what isn't
- From the game's files: every price and upkeep (the scripts), the asphalt price (tile materials), and loan size and interest per scenario.
- From the game's code: the exit fee (minutes × rate, rounded down to a dollar), the entrance rule (a driver turns away only when the rate looks Bad, judged with the higher of their own carbrainess and the city's), the 900-unit day, upkeep and interest charged a little every unit.
- Our estimates: how full the lot is (you set it), the asphalt a layout needs, and that one unit of game time is one second at 1× speed (15 minutes a day).