Remote, card or license plate: choosing car park access

The most common method in residential buildings. The hardware is cheap and easy to install, but every remote has to be handed out, replaced when lost and ideally disabled when a resident leaves. Many remotes can be cloned, and the system doesn't know which car passed, only that a button was pressed.

Cards are easier to manage than remotes because each has an ID and can be disabled. Still, the driver has to stop, lower the window and hold the card to the reader, and cards are easily lent. The record shows the card, not the car.

The barrier has a phone number. When a registered number calls, the system checks the access right and opens. There are no devices to hand out, and access is revoked by deleting the number. It works well as the main method for small car parks or as a fallback for ANPR.

The camera reads the plate and the barrier opens without the driver doing anything. There is nothing to lose or clone, access is granted and revoked in software, and every pass is tied to a car and logged. Visitors can get temporary access by plate.

The upfront investment is higher than for remotes, and accuracy depends on correct camera mounting.

In short, on the criteria that matter most often:

• Upfront cost: remotes and phone-call entry are cheapest, ANPR the most expensive.
• Cost over time: remotes and cards have recurring replacement costs; ANPR and phone-call entry do not.
• Security: remotes are easy to clone; ANPR and phone-call entry are managed centrally.
• Convenience: ANPR requires no action from the driver.
• Records: only ANPR ties the pass to the car; the others show the device or phone.

For complexes with dozens or hundreds of cars, frequent visitors or record-keeping problems, ANPR as the main method plus phone-call entry as a fallback gives the best balance. For a small car park with a few cars and no visitors, phone-call entry may be enough.