A vehicle control device mounted on a vehicle has a search signal transmission unit that transmits a search signal for searching a position of a portable device, which remotely operates the control device, a determination unit that determines a bright and dark state of outside of the vehicle, and a storage unit that stores a determination result of the determination unit. When searching for the portable device, a first search signal for causing the portable device to perform an informing operation of visually informing the position of the portable device is transmitted from the search signal transmission unit if the determination result in which the outside of the vehicle is determined as the dark state by the determination unit is stored in the storage unit, and a second search signal for not causing the portable device to perform the informing operation of visually informing the position of the portable device is transmitted from the search signal transmission unit if the determination result in which the outside of the vehicle is determined as the bright state by the determination unit is stored in the storage unit.