Volkswagen targets mobile payments business with parking service deal

Volkswagen Financial Services AG has acquired PayByPhone, the world’s leading provider of cashless payment systems for parking. PayByPhone is one of the fastest growing mobile payments companies in the world. In 2016, PayByPhone says that has already processed more than $250 million in payments and is adding approximately 7,000 users per day to their already substantial base of more than 12.5 million registered users.

Through the company’s mobile web, smartphone and smartwatch applications, PayByPhone helps consumers pay for parking without the hassles of waiting in line, having to carry change or risking costly fines. Registration is quick and easy and the app reminds the user when their parking is about to expire, allowing them to top up from anywhere, at any time.

PayByPhone is based in Vancouver, Canada and also operates in the USA, France, Great Britain, Switzerland and Australia.

„With our acquisition of PayByPhone, we are now the leading provider for the processing and mobile payment of parking procedures. In the future we will be bundling this know-how in a separate business field around the theme of parking,” says Dr. Christian Dahlheim, the Management Board member responsible for sales and marketing at Volkswagen Financial Services AG. He adds: „For us, PayByPhone is the ideal addition to our portfolio because the company enables us to consistently expand our international presence in all areas relating to mobile parking management and digital payment solutions. Moreover, PayByPhone is highly innovative with excellent user-friendliness on all mobile devices.”

Volkswagen Financial Services are positioning themselves as the central service provider within the Volkswagen Group in the business field of parking and highly increase their involvement around mobile payments.

„At the moment, parking procedures and their billing are often cumbersome, time-consuming and a sore point in many cities throughout Europe and the world. Nevertheless, parking is something that is directly related to the use of every car,” Dahlheim points out. He continues: „For this reason, we want to offer our customers a convenient digital solution that makes parking and its billing much easier.”

In 2015 Volkswagen Financial Services AG has already acquired a 92% shareholding in sunhill technologies GmbH, a company that offers its cashless payment solutions for parking operations in 90 German cities and is therefore the leading provider on the German parking market. With the acquisition of PayByPhone, the mobile billing of parking processes will be expanded internationally. The Canadian company is the world’s largest provider of cashless payment systems for parking procedures. In 2016 PayByPhone processed roughly 60 million transactions with a total volume of around EUR 240 million.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for PayByPhone to explore new ways to expand our mobile payments technology into different verticals, markets and use cases. The mobile payment movement has exploded recently, and we look forward to accelerating our consumer parking and payments agenda made possible by this deal,” said Kush Parikh, CEO of PayByPhone. “Volkswagen Financial Services AG has been at the forefront of innovation to fit its customers’ mobile lives, and we are honoured to be a part of its global vision.”

The key component of the offer is the app „paybyphone parking”, which is available in the respective markets for the mobile operating systems iOS, Android and Blackberry. Via the app, customers can select their specific parking area and their desired parking time and then pay directly. An alarm function alerts users when their virtual parking permit is running out. Extending the parking time is also possible with a few clicks on the smartphone.

PayByPhone was the first provider of mobile payment solutions for parking services to integrate the Apple Pay and Android Pay payment procedures in its app. In addition, PayByPhone was also one of the exclusive launch partners in the introduction of Apple Watch and the only parking payment provider to support the platform to date.

Many of the largest and most complex parking operations in the world use PayByPhone including San Francisco (30,000 spaces), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston (25,000 spaces), Seattle (12,000 spaces), London (40,000 spaces) and Paris (155,000 spaces). PayByPhone has about 100 employees worldwide.

Source: Volkswagen Financial Services