A vehicle control device controls a vehicle drive system having a main motor serving as a source of drive power of a vehicle, a parking lock mechanism, and an actuator. The vehicle control device includes an actuator drive controller that controls drive of the actuator, and a main motor drive controller that controls drive of the main motor. When a parking lock of the vehicle cannot be released by the actuator due to an engaging surface pressure between a parking gear and a parking lever, the main motor drive controller performs an engaging surface pressure reduction control in which an engaging surface pressure is reduced by driving the main motor to cause an increase of a torque of the main motor by a set increase speed.