The short answer
If you're only dropping someone at Gatwick, it costs £10 for up to 10 minutes, or nothing at all if you use Long Stay car parks — a one-off, and almost always cheaper than parking. If you're the traveller and leaving the car for the trip, that's the real cost: pre-booked parking beats the drive-up gate rate and usually beats two taxi fares, with the car waiting when you land.
Drop-off figures verified 25 Aug 2026 against London Gatwick Airport's own published charges. Parking prices change often, so we send those to a live comparison rather than quoting a figure that would go stale — see below.
Park or drop off at Gatwick: the key numbers
- Drop-off charge
- £10 for up to 10 minutes
- Cheapest way to be dropped off
- Free — Long Stay car parks
- Free alternative
- Long Stay car parks — 2 hours free, shuttle to terminal
- If you're parking
- Charged per day — pre-book to beat the gate rate (compare below)
- Verified
- 25 Aug 2026, against www.gatwickairport.com
Is it cheaper to park or get dropped off at Gatwick?
They answer different questions, which is why the honest comparison isn't a single number. Being dropped off is the cheap option when you're not the one travelling — you drop a passenger, pay the £10 once and drive home. Parking is what you're really pricing when you are flying and the car has to sit somewhere for days: then the drop-off charge is a rounding error and the question is gate price versus pre-booked price versus a taxi both ways.
If you're only dropping someone off
A single drop-off is £10 for up to 10 minutes — but you don't have to pay it at all: Long Stay car parks is free (2 hours free, shuttle to terminal). Allow 15–25 extra minutes. The London Gatwick drop-off guide has the exact rules, and the free drop-off guide lists every airport's free option.
Where you drop off at Gatwick
Both drop-off zones are barrier-free ANPR areas on the lower level of each terminal — no ticket to take and nothing to pay on site.
If you're the one flying
Three ways to do it, and the drop-off charge barely features in any of them: get dropped off and collected (cheapest on cash if someone will do four airport runs for a return trip — and remember the collection leg has its own rules, see below); taxi both ways (two fares, no car to park); or drive and park (you pay per day, but the car's at the airport the moment you land). For most trips the deciding factor isn't the drop-off — it's that pre-booked parking is a fraction of the drive-up rate and, on anything but the shortest hop from nearby, comes in under two taxi fares. Book it a few weeks out, not at the barrier.
A worked example: a week away from Gatwick
Say you're flying from Gatwick for a week. Dropped off and collected: £10 out, and the return leg can't use that zone, so collection means car-park rates — or nothing at all if you use Long Stay car parks at both ends, which is four trips to Gatwick for whoever's driving. A taxi both ways from the London area is two fares with luggage. Drive and park and you pay per day — but booked a few weeks ahead, off-airport parking is a fraction of the drive-up gate rate and, on a trip this length, typically lands under two taxi fares, with the car waiting at arrivals when you land. The combination to avoid is paying the kerb charge out of habit when a cheaper route exists. Compare live Gatwick parking prices below.
Why the sums have shifted at Gatwick
Gatwick's drop-off charge has risen from £7 in 2025 to £10 — up about 43%. As the kerb charge climbs, the case for pre-booked parking on a longer trip only strengthens. Every UK rise is tracked in the price index and the change log.
Or skip the car entirely
Gatwick Airport station is at the South Terminal, about a five-minute walk from the concourses, with the non-stop Gatwick Express to London Victoria plus Southern and Thameslink services. For some travellers that takes the park-or-drop-off question off the table.
Don't forget the pick-up
Don't use the drop-off zone for pick-ups. Gatwick's express pick-up areas are inside the Short Stay car parks — Car Park 6 (Level 4) at North Terminal and Car Park 3 (ground floor) at South Terminal — at standard Short Stay rates, and you must stay with the car, as unattended vehicles can receive a Parking Charge Notice. The cheaper option is the Long Stay: free for up to 2 hours, with a shuttle to both terminals. See the UK pick-up charges guide and how to pay at Gatwick on the payment page.
Compare pre-booked parking prices
We list every parking partner that covers this airport — Airparks, Holiday Extras and YourParkingSpace — in alphabetical order, not by what they pay us. Some are affiliate links: we may earn a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you, and it never affects our verified charges data.
Park or drop off at Gatwick: your questions
Is it cheaper to park or get dropped off at Gatwick?
For a single set-down, being dropped off (£10) is cheaper than parking. But if you're the one flying and leaving the car for the trip, drop-off isn't really the alternative to parking — pre-booked parking, a taxi both ways, or a free lift are. Pre-booked parking usually beats a taxi both ways and is far cheaper than the drive-up gate rate.
How much is drop-off at Gatwick?
£10 for up to 10 minutes. The free alternative is Long Stay car parks: 2 hours free, shuttle to terminal.
Is pre-booked airport parking cheaper than paying at the gate?
Almost always. Drive-up (gate) rates are the most expensive way to park; booking a few weeks ahead is typically a fraction of that. We list the parking partners that cover this airport so you can compare their live prices.
What's the cheapest way to get dropped at Gatwick?
Use Long Stay car parks — 2 hours free, shuttle to terminal — rather than the £10 forecourt charge.
Method & corrections
Every figure on this page is checked against the airport's own published charges and stamped with the date we checked it. We re-verify the full dataset quarterly, and after any reported change — see how we work and who maintains it.
Spotted an error? Email hello@airportdropoffcharges.co.uk — corrections are made visibly and dated. The dataset behind this page is free to reuse with attribution: JSON · CSV (CC BY 4.0).