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KaChing is the parking app you didn’t know you needed

The boom at the venue parking opened before we had even requested the ticket to be enter the parkade. We looked at each other, confused, and proceeded to press a button and get a ticket.

Only later when we sat down with the folks at KaChing did we realise that our number plate had been loaded onto the KaChing system and we probably wouldn’t be able to use a parking ticket ever again, because this service is awesome.

The idea for the service came about in 2014 when the founders, Jaco Marais, William Cosby and Rudolph de Wet took 30 minutes to exit a parking arcade and they found themselves repeating the phrase many budding entrepreneurs utter, “there must be a better way”.

As it turns out there wasn’t a better way, so they made one.

A patent was granted on 25th November 2015 and the KaChing service is now live in three shopping malls in Johannesburg.

But what does KaChing do?

Cosby remarked, “Paying for parking is a very conscious act. You pull up to the boom, take a ticket, and park. Then once you’ve done your shopping you have to check that you have money, queue to pay, drive up put the ticket in and then eventually leave. That’s insane!”

KaChing uses licence plate recognition (LPR) software and a cloud based platform to handle all the requests users make to exit or enter parking.

Users can add multiple cards and multiple cards with payment history and cancellations.
Users can add multiple cards and multiple cars with payment history and cancellations for each.

Users load a credit card, a license plate number and their details onto the KaChing app and simply drive up to the boom. The camera scans the license plate and the boom lifts; it really is that simple, we tested it.

Users are informed when they enter or leave a parkade and if your car leaves the parkade you are sent a notification.

This is just one of the many safety factors KaChing has taken into consideration. Card payments are Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard compliant and KaChing is also working with banks to ensure that a users safety is maintained on the bank side.

The important thing to note here is that KaChing doesn’t store details of users. Cards and active cards can also be deactivated from within the app.

Free parking, kinda

There is even a way to get free parking, referral codes can be generated when you, refer a friend obviously and these can be used up to 100 times to get free parking.

The service is currently live at Melrose Arch, Campus Square and Morningside Shopping Centre in Johannesburg. The service is expected to launch in March at the Pavilion in Durban and Thrupps in Johannesburg.

KaChing is available on iOS and Android and is free to download but you will need to link your credit card to the service to use it properly, naturally.

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