Car anxiety anybody???

[Speranza]

Hi,
I am a little more anxious than usual the last couple of days (very tired, daughter going back to France etc) and I have begun smelling and hearing things in the car. I have had this a lot down the years... Unfortunately I am also really good at spotting real problems so it's always hard to know when to ignore it - it's just like HA but for cars.

I just wondered if anybody else has this?

I love driving but I have known for years that I project a lot of my worries onto my car. I was just interested to know if it isn't just me...

Gill x

[kittikat]

I am exactly the same as you although I do feel somewhat 'protected' in my car (but can only drive locally). Any noise I hear or strange smell, I instantly think that something is terribly wrong and that I am going to break down and be left stranded on some busy road alone.

I think mine stems back to one of my first major panic attacks I had in the car about 7 years ago...I was 15 miles from home on a country lane and had to abandon my car and pace around in a terrible panic wondering how I would get home and thinking I was going to have a heart attack for over an hour until it eventually passed.

I would imagine this is fairly common with anxiety...the fear of something going wrong and being left stranded. I actually hate driving now and will only go a couple of miles from home on my own for this reason.

Kitti

[LucyR]

I panic about breaking down too and I almost totally ran out of petrol on Friday night!

[Daisy Sue]

I always feel very confident when driving, and don't think I've ever had a panic attack whilst driving, but I do identify with the worry side of it. I will drive miles out of my way to avoid a potential traffic jam, and feel sick with a sort of claustrophia if ever I'm in one.

I traded in my much loved car last year because it wasn't running right, and the main dealer I bought it from said they couldn't find anything wrong... I am too dependant on my car to carry on driving it if I thought might break down on me, so I part-ex'd it, to a great expense :(

I think my particular worry about it all is that a) I can't get to 'safety', and b) someone might need me and I can't get to them.

[Speranza]

I don't even know what my worry is - I have broken down and been rescued and not worried too much about it. I think for me it is more to do with the bottomless pit of expense it may open up! Tomorrow I take my daughter to Birmingham Airport and last time I did this, the car broke down three times on the way back and took 6 weeks to repair. So today I have been sniffing and smelling 'funny smells' although the fuel injection system was replaced last month s I think it's really unlikely to be anything major.

I just need to get over myself. My senses do become hyperacute when I'm tired and stressed, and though others in the car smelt it, I was the only one who thought it was still there at the end of the journey. I only realised when a visitor started laughing that I had automatically got out of the car and sniffed the bonnet. It must have looked like I was preparing to mate with it! (No, I am NOT one of those people who falls in love with machines!!)