Dubai parking SMS: the number, the exact format, and what it costs in 2026

To pay for street parking in Dubai by SMS, text your plate number, the zone code on the sign, and the number of hours to 7275 — for example A12345 335A 2. The message costs 30 fils on top of the parking fee, and the session only starts once the confirmation text arrives. Get one token wrong and nothing is registered, which is how most avoidable parking fines in Dubai happen. This guide covers the exact Dubai parking format for 2026, what changed on 1 June when cash payments ended, and the plate rule that trips up almost every driver from outside the emirate. If you are already sorting out the running costs of a car here, it is worth taking two minutes to compare Dubai car insurance quotes at the same time.

What is the Dubai parking SMS number?

The Dubai parking SMS number is 7275. It spells “PARK” on a phone keypad, and it is the only short code used for paid street parking anywhere in Dubai.

The service behind that number is mParking — the pay-by-text system that lets you start a parking session from your phone without an app, an account, or a card. It was built by Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), and the parking itself is now operated by Parkin Company PJSC, the listed company that took over Dubai’s public parking portfolio, with the RTA remaining the regulator.

There is no separate line for tourists, rental cars, or plates from other emirates. Whether you search for it as an RTA parking SMS, a Dubai parking msg, or a DXB parking SMS, the destination is the same short code: 7275.

• Send from any UAE mobile number — Etisalat or du.
• No registration is required to send your first message.
• The parking fee is deducted from your mobile credit or added to your postpaid bill.

The exact Dubai parking SMS format

The Dubai parking format is three elements separated by single spaces, sent to 7275: plate → zone → hours. Nothing else goes in the message.

Element	What it is	Example
Plate	Your plate code and number, exactly as printed	A12345
Zone	The code on the nearest parking signboard — usually three digits and a letter	335A
Hours	How long you want, in hours	2
Full message	Sent to 7275	A12345 335A 2

Half-hour sessions are accepted too. 0.5, 30, and 30 mins all work in the duration slot, so a short errand does not have to be billed as a full hour.

Sending it, step by step

1. Read the zone code off the parking signboard nearest your bay — not the one across the street, since adjacent zones often differ.
2. Open a new text message to 7275.
3. Type your plate, one space, the zone code, one space, the hours — A12345 335A 2.
4. Send, and wait for the reply. Confirmation usually lands within about 15 seconds.

Do not walk away before the confirmation arrives. No confirmation means no active session, and an inspector reading your plate will find nothing on the system.

Dubai parking SMS format for Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and other non-Dubai plates

If your car is registered outside Dubai, the emirate code and your plate code form one token, then a space, then the plate number. This is the single most common reason a Dubai parking message fails — drivers run the whole thing together as AUH12345 and the system cannot match a vehicle.

Non-Dubai format: <Emirate code><Plate code> <Plate number> <Zone> <Hours>
Worked example: AUH13 12345 335A 1 — an Abu Dhabi plate, code 13, number 12345, parked in zone 335A for one hour.

Abu Dhabi and Sharjah plate codes are numbers rather than letters, which is exactly why they need to sit against the emirate code instead of being merged into the plate number. If you are unsure which part of your plate is the code, our guide to UAE number plate codes breaks down how each emirate lays them out.

Where the car is registered	Message to 7275	Reads as
Dubai	A12345 335A 2	Plate A12345, zone 335A, 2 hours
Abu Dhabi	AUH13 12345 335A 1	AUH plate code 13, number 12345
Sharjah	SHJ2 12345 335A 2	SHJ plate code 2, number 12345
Ajman	AJM1 12345 335A 1	AJM plate code 1, number 12345
Umm Al Quwain	UAQ1 12345 335A 1	UAQ plate code 1, number 12345
Ras Al Khaimah	RAK1 12345 335A 1	RAK plate code 1, number 12345
Fujairah	FUJ1 12345 335A 1	FUJ plate code 1, number 12345
Saudi Arabia	KSA 123ABC 335A 4	Country code, then the plate

Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain plates follow the same pattern with their own country codes. Substitute your real plate code for the placeholder in the table — the codes shown for the northern emirates are illustrative, and yours is whatever is printed on your own plate.

Motorcycles

Motorcycles take a B and a space at the front of the whole message — for example B AUH14 00000 335A 1. Everything after the prefix follows the normal rules.

How to find your Dubai parking zone code

The Dubai parking code is printed on the blue and orange signboard at the head of each row of bays, and it is normally three digits followed by a letter — 335A, 232C, 318W. The letter is not decoration: it tells you what kind of zone you are in and therefore what you will pay.

• Zone codes change from street to street, and sometimes from one side of a road to the other. Always read the sign closest to your bay.
• Multi-storey car parks and reserved lots use their own codes, which are posted at the entrance rather than on the street.
• If the sign is missing or unreadable, the Parkin app will show the zone for your current location.

Zone codes also determine which bays you are allowed to use in the first place. Our breakdown of the types of parking in Dubai covers the difference between public, reserved, residential and multi-storey bays.

Dubai parking message: what the confirmation should say

The reply you get back is your ticket, so read it before you leave the car. Three things need to be right.

• It arrived at all. If a couple of minutes pass with nothing, resend the identical message — an unprocessed request is not charged twice.
• The expiry time matches what you paid for. A two-hour request should show an end time roughly two hours ahead.
• The zone code matches the sign. A confirmation for the wrong zone means you have paid for a different street and are still exposed.

How to extend Dubai parking by SMS

Ten minutes before your session ends, 7275 sends a reminder automatically. There are two ways to add time from wherever you are.

• Reply Y to the reminder. This repeats your original duration — reply Y to a two-hour session and you get another two hours.
• Send a fresh message. Text the full plate–zone–hours format again before the current session expires if you want a different duration.

Extend before the clock runs out, not after. Once a session lapses the bay is unpaid immediately, and inspectors do not work to a grace period.

Dubai parking fees in 2026: zones, peak rates and VAT

Two things changed the price of parking in Dubai recently, and most guides still show the old numbers.

First, Parkin introduced variable pricing in April 2025. Premium zones — roughly 35% of the 184,000-space public portfolio, concentrated in Downtown Dubai, Business Bay, Deira and Jumeirah — charge a higher rate during peak hours of 8:00–10:00 and 16:00–20:00, and revert to the standard rate between 10:00–16:00 and 20:00–22:00.

Second, 5% VAT was added to every Parkin service on 1 June 2026, covering on-street and off-street parking, seasonal cards, permits and reservations. The base tariffs did not change; the VAT sits on top.

Zone type	Base rate per hour	With 5% VAT (from 1 June 2026)
Premium zone, peak hours	AED 6.00	AED 6.30
Standard zone	AED 4.00	AED 4.20
Reduced-tariff zone	AED 3.00	AED 3.15
Lowest-tariff zone	AED 2.00	AED 2.10
SMS handling charge	AED 0.30 per message	Charged by your operator

Rates verified in August 2026. Zone-letter labelling varies between published sources, so treat the letter on your signboard as authoritative over any table, including this one.

When Dubai parking is free

Paid parking runs 08:00 to 22:00. Outside that window it is free every night from 22:00 to 08:00, free all day on Sundays, and free on public holidays. Some residential zones run their own hours, so the signboard beats the general rule every time.

Why your Dubai parking SMS failed

If no confirmation comes back, the fault is almost always in one specific token rather than the system being down.

What went wrong	What it looks like	Fix
Emirate code merged into the plate number	AUH12345 335A 1	Split the plate code out: AUH13 12345 335A 1
Missing or doubled spaces	A12345335A 2	One single space between each element
Wrong zone code	Confirmation shows a zone you are not in	Re-read the nearest signboard and resend
Insufficient mobile credit	No reply, or a balance message	Top up, or pay through the Parkin app instead
Premium-rate messaging barred on your line	Nothing sends at all	Ask your operator to lift the bar on short codes

Other ways to pay for parking in Dubai

Cash is no longer an option. Parkin stopped accepting coins and notes on 1 June 2026, which is precisely why the SMS route matters more now than it did a year ago — it is the only method that needs nothing but a phone signal.

• Parkin app: the operator’s own app, for paying, extending and finding a space.
• RTA Dubai and Dubai Now apps: both still process parking payments and keep a session history.
• nol card: tap at a meter, or link it in the app.
• Parking meters: card and nol only now that cash has gone.
• Seasonal permit: if you park in the same zone daily, a monthly permit almost always beats paying by the hour. Our guide to the RTA seasonal parking permit covers the zones, prices and eligibility.

Choosing between them is simple: use SMS if you are already standing at the car and want it done in fifteen seconds, and use the Parkin app if you park more than twice a week and want the history and auto-extend. Both charge the same tariff — the only difference is the 30 fils per message. Drivers who prefer spreading annual motoring costs rather than paying them in one hit can also pay for car insurance in installments with Tabby.

The Dubai parking WhatsApp number

The RTA’s WhatsApp chatbot, Mahboub, accepts the same message format. Save +971 58 800 9090 as a contact and send A12345 335A 2 exactly as you would by text. Note that this is a different number from the 7275 short code — WhatsApp goes to Mahboub, SMS goes to 7275, and mixing them up is a common mistake.

Parking SMS numbers in the other emirates

7275 only works inside Dubai. Park in another emirate and you are on that emirate’s own system, with its own short code and its own message format.

Emirate	Operator	SMS short code
Dubai	Parkin / RTA mParking	7275
Abu Dhabi	Mawaqif	3009
Sharjah	Sharjah Municipality	5566
Ajman	Ajman Municipality	5155

The formats differ as well as the numbers. Abu Dhabi’s system is covered in our guide to Abu Dhabi’s own parking SMS system, and the Sharjah rules, timings and full-day option are set out in our Sharjah parking SMS guide.

Parking fines, damage, and what your insurance actually covers

A missed parking session is a fine, not a penalty point — but fines accumulate, and they surface when you renew your registration. Dubai runs discount windows on traffic fines periodically, and the current position is set out in our guide to Dubai traffic fine discounts.

The more expensive risk is what happens to the car while it is parked. Door dings, trolley scrapes and hit-and-runs in car parks are far more common than accidents on the move, and whether you are covered depends entirely on your policy type — we have looked at whether car insurance covers parking lot damage in detail.

The short version: comprehensive car insurance can pay for damage to your own car when there is no identified third party to claim against, while third-party car insurance only covers damage you cause to someone else. If your car is financed, or worth more than about AED 30,000, comprehensive is the sensible choice — a single unattended car park incident can cost more than the annual premium difference.

Before you rely on this guide

Parking codes, zone boundaries and tariffs are reviewed periodically by Parkin and the RTA, and the figures above were verified in August 2026. Check the signboard in front of you and the Parkin or RTA Dubai app before a specific trip. And if you are re-costing your motoring for the year, it takes a couple of minutes to get a car insurance quote and see whether you are overpaying.

Frequently asked questions