A car can spend the day doing absolutely nothing and still run up a bill. Leave it near an airport, and the meter keeps working while you fly away. Wash it, insure it, repair it, fill it up: ownership is a procession of small transactions interrupted by expensive ones. Way.com wants a place in that procession.
The company connects drivers with parking, car washes, fuel rewards, insurance comparisons, refinancing and other automotive services. Its newer pitch goes behind the counter, supplying software to the businesses that serve those drivers. A parking customer can become a maintenance customer; a repair shop can become a software customer. Way is trying to make both journeys happen inside its own network.
By September 2026, Way was advertising an audience of more than 11 million drivers. That is the company’s reach claim, not a count of people buying something every month. Still, it explains the sales pitch now being made to independent garages: Way can help organize the work and introduce the next person who needs it.
01The expensive space next door
Founder and CEO Binu Girija traces the idea to an ordinary San Francisco irritation. Running late for a meeting, he parked in a lot, then discovered another nearby charging a third of the price. In a 2022 Tech Company News interview, he described wanting a marketplace that made those differences visible before the money changed hands.
The founding team also includes Bhumi Bhutani, whose work in sales and strategic alliances helped assemble the parking network. Her background included Genentech and the California Department of Public Health. Girija came from enterprise technology, with experience at BEA Systems, Oracle and Computer Sciences Corporation. Their respective jobs capture the two difficult halves of this business: building the connections in software and persuading real operators to participate.
Girija told Benzinga that Way started in 2015. He also put an unusually concrete price on the brand: $350,000 for the domain name. In that interview, he described a $10 million SAFE financing led by Agnus Capital, with Gokul Rajaram, Manik Gupta and L+R Ventures participating. Buying the name was a bet that customers would remember where to return.
02Then the planes stopped
The weakness in airport parking appeared when travel collapsed. Girija told Authority Magazine that COVID reduced Way’s top line by 60% in 2020. A service built around a trip could lose its occasion for use almost overnight. The company responded by moving into complementary services and placing more emphasis on essential car expenses.
That experience gives the sprawling product menu a business explanation. Drivers might postpone a vacation; their vehicles still require upkeep. Bringing several expenses together creates more opportunities for the same customer to return. It also spreads exposure across different reasons to spend, although those services remain tied to the same household budget.
The personal cost was substantial, too. Girija recalled telling his wife at the outset that he would earn nothing for five years and asking whether she could support the family. His advice in the same interview was to test whether an idea actually worked before committing more money. Bhutani, in a separate leadership interview, emphasized honest feedback and allowing colleagues to question decisions. Those are the founders’ stated working principles, with the pandemic providing a hard test.
03A booking is only the beginning
For the driver, the starting point remains straightforward: enter a destination and dates, compare parking options, reserve and pay. Way also supports advance car-wash purchases, fuel cashback and EV-charger discovery. Its mileage tracker is aimed at people who need records of driving for work, including independent workers and small businesses.
The products differ in what they actually deliver. Parking involves a reservation at a participating location. Insurance and refinancing involve financial-service providers. A charger search helps locate infrastructure; it does not make every charger interchangeable or available. The useful question is whether Way has the right participating service where the driver needs it.
Way+ adds a paid membership. At the time of research, the consumer page advertised Ruby at $9.95 a month, alongside a struck-through $12.95 price. Listed benefits included towing up to 10 miles, an $8 monthly parking credit and one car wash every three months. Benefits have limits, and the displayed offer can change.
At that advertised monthly rate, a full year costs $119.40. Twelve fully used parking credits would total $96. That arithmetic leaves $23.40 to justify through the other benefits, before considering any restrictions or overlapping coverage. It is an illustration, not a savings forecast. A driver who never uses the parking credit faces a different calculation.
Assumes the advertised rate lasts 12 months and every parking credit is fully used. Credits are not cash.
04The customer behind the customer
Way’s business model combines marketplace transactions, paid benefits and business software. New York City’s description of its parking operation identifies a commission retained from bookings. Way+ creates a membership relationship. Repair-shop software gives Way another way to sell to the supplier as well as the shopper.
Partners provide a route to customers who may never have searched for a new car app. In April 2025, Way announced an agreement with IWS Acquisition Corporation to distribute Way+ through credit unions. The credit union gets an additional member benefit; Way gains a place in an existing financial relationship. The proposition is particularly coherent around vehicle ownership, where financing and everyday running costs meet.
An August 2025 announcement described Harbor Insurance replacing a roadside provider after complaints and low engagement. Harbor’s CEO reported fewer complaints and said customers liked tracking tow trucks in the app. Those are partner-reported outcomes, without a published controlled comparison. The concrete product lesson is nevertheless useful: during a breakdown, knowing where help is can matter more than another discount.
Distribution also happens closer to the parking gate. Way announced a national partnership with Metropolis in October 2025, combining its booking channel with the operator’s parking network. In February 2026, it became Chicago Fire FC’s official parking partner for home matches at Soldier Field. A fan already has a destination and a deadline. That is a well-defined moment to offer a reservation.
05Now it wants the repair counter
In June 2026, Way announced that its Take 5 Oil Change partnership would add more than 1,200 locations to its service network. Drivers could claim discounts at participating sites for routine maintenance. For Way, oil changes extend the relationship into a chore that arrives whether or not the customer has a flight to catch.
The next move is more involved. Way Repair Tech combines repair orders, estimates, inventory, customer communication and payments with marketplace visibility. Its August 2026 partnership announcement with the Automotive Service Councils of California offered members a trial and described tools including digital inspections, customer reminders and booking through Google and Apple Maps.
This puts Way in competition with shop-management specialists such as Shopmonkey, which already sells estimates, invoicing, payments and communication tools. Way’s distinguishing argument is the connection to its consumer audience. A shop owner would need to evaluate both the operational software and the local customers it actually brings. Eleven million drivers spread across a country do not all need a mechanic on the same street.
On September 2, Way announced that Repair Tech had won a 2026 MOTOR Top 20 Award. The competition selects winners by public online vote. The recognition gives the newer product a calling card; its commercial test remains whether garages find it useful enough to keep running their businesses on it.
06The $200,000 test of trust
The marketplace has also faced a more demanding assessment of its supplier network. In August 2024, New York City sued Way, alleging it facilitated at least 46 unlicensed parking businesses. The city described consumer complaints involving misleading prices, damaged cars and missing property. Those allegations concerned participating operators and Way’s role in enabling their bookings.
In its public response, Way said it required proof of city licensing, had removed listings connected to unlicensed operators and had strengthened verification. The later outcome matters: on July 3, 2026, the city announced that Way agreed to $200,000 in civil penalties and a permanent prohibition on aiding unlicensed parking facilities in New York City. The settlement also requires identification procedures and active platform monitoring.
That is a direct expense, and a practical limit on the marketplace model. A polished checkout cannot establish whether the business holding the keys is qualified to do so. Adding locations creates value only when the platform can maintain the quality of those connections. The same question follows Way into repair services, where the work happens beyond the screen.
A polished checkout cannot establish whether the business holding the keys is qualified to do so.
THE MARKETPLACE’S PHYSICAL TEST
07Make the ordinary parts work
Way’s November 2025 parking updates were revealingly mundane. They added Apple Pay and Google Pay, a Total Price Toggle, clearer confirmation emails and Scan & Pay at participating sites without an app download or account. The company said the changes addressed customer feedback. Better directions and visible costs are small features with consequences when someone is already late.
There is a repeatable approach here for other businesses: start with a specific purchase problem, make the transaction understandable, then offer a related service to the same customer. Partnerships can supply both locations and distribution. But each addition needs to earn its place through actual use. A bundle loses its appeal when the nearby options are thin or its benefits duplicate something the customer already buys.
For parking alone, SpotHero offers a focused alternative across hourly, monthly, airport and event bookings. Way’s broader menu becomes meaningful when a driver also uses the wash, rewards or maintenance services. The comparison should turn on the relevant location, total price and terms, rather than the number of icons on the home screen.
Way began with the annoyance of paying too much for a patch of asphalt. Its ambition now extends to the invoices, membership renewals and repair orders that follow a car through its useful life. The next stage depends on getting those ordinary transactions right, repeatedly, with businesses worthy of being handed the keys.