Wrote car off yesterday & Just bought a Grand Vitara

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kimevans wrote: »

He is a she & no thas not the case at all.

I did post looking for positive ways in which to rebuild my shattered confidence, not a load of scare stories. I was interested in courses that could help.
I do 6,000 miles a year, mostly to & from work (7 miles away) & a bit of shopping. I rarely go on motorways, & don't do much main road driving at all. My car rarely ever goes above 50 mph. I'm no mad driver. I'm a 40 year old vey boring (I work in finance) civil servant. I've really had my confidence battered too (& to be honest, I was never hugely confident in the first place) & I'm just looking for postive ideas that may help. I HAVE to drive, I live in a village & I couldn't get to work without a car. I wanted a small 4x4 as my next car, because when you drive down country lanes & tuck well in on the bends I always felt my little wheels were not great for that.

Well, my apologies for assuming that you are male.

I did not publish any " scare stories " yet I note that you have only thanked selected contributors to the thread, my advice was sound, positive and constructive.

You would be well advised to get further driver training, as others have suggested, especially with a 4x4, they do handle differently to a standard car, and you would benefit from that training.

An IAM course will be available in your area, look them up on the web at;

http://www.iam.org.uk/

LandyAndy

tomstickland wrote: »

I drive to work on B roads and I sometimes have to follow people driving at 25mph becuase it looks like it might be ice when in fact it's all water.

And one day it will be.

LandyAndy

kimevans wrote: »

I know what you mean about thanking the variety of people that have bothered to post & I didn't mean it to seem like that.
But my confidence HAS taken a massive blow & I really don't need one more thing to worry about. I do little mileage & I don't drive fast, so I'm not likely to be running it to extreme situations.

I lie in bed at night, reliving those last 10 seconds over & over.
I'm no speed freak & I didn't want a 4x4 to feel like a "big boy" on the road.
I just wanted nice big tyres, as my little ones used to end up in the edge of the tarmac where it meets the mud while going around country bends & I didn't like that feeling. Also I used to find lights of oncoming cars VERY dazzling at night & the higher driving position lifts you above the main glare a little & helps.

Do you have your eyes tested regularly? I have a cataract in one eye and it makes oncoming lights much more dazzling.

toasterman

Can I just mention that I lost control of my car a couple of years back driving through part of Wales in similar cold conditions. It went from icy/snowy (me driving slowly) to a bit where it looked like it had all melted and/or been cleared. I wouldn't say I put my foot down - I was still driving way below the limit.

On one straight (but quite narrow) road with houses one side and an ice-cold lake the other, I steered round the only car parked on the left (there was plentiful free local parking off the road on the right) and it started to slide. Before I had chance to do much, I smacked right into the parked car. It was unoccupied, but the owner was in one of the houses to the left, heard, and came down and had a go at me for hitting his car.

I moved my car out of the middle of the road, exchanged details, and while the owner of the other car was swearing at me and suggesting I must have been driving "at least 70mph", a Range Rover coming down the same road as I'd just done, started to skid. It stopped about 40cm clear of hitting the same car I'd just written off.

The car I was driving when I crashed was an Astra estate. it was a company leased car, that had every service on time, all tyres checked regularly, etc. I was working for a company at the time that were very picky about lateness and what I really should have done is not let them pressure me that day, tell them where to go, and got there when I got there - intact and car unharmed. It's easier to say in hindsight.

I'd put my incident down to driving too fast and being inexperienced.

deltic_2

If you still feel a little nervous, give a local driving instructor a call and explain your situation. They may be able to offer an informal lesson or two just to give you a small amount of guidance and a large amount of reassurance. Driving Instructors are happy to do lessons for qualified drivers.

This would be better than a 4x4 course as this focuses on driving off road which it sounds like you are unlikely to do.

But above all, don't worry and enjoy your new car - it's a great choice !

toasterman

kimevans wrote: »

A man got me out of my car & as he was helping me another car stopped, the driver of the second car stopped her car a little further on from where mine was & ran back.
As she was telling the first man (who helped me out) where we were as he was calling 999 services, another car skidded on the road & verly nearly slid into her car.

My car had all the tyres & checked & balanced & inflated properly in the garage last month. I had the two worst (but they were still legal) taken off & two new ones put on.

There you go. Another motorist had nearly done the exact same thing as you, in the very same spot!
If nothing else, you can feel slightly better its not just you (I worry that when something happens to me, sometimes). It's always nice to see you're not the first or last - at such close hand. I know I always feel better knowing even very experienced drivers aren't brilliant all the time.

Someone told me just after I did it (not that it made me feel any better at the time) - "thats why you pay insurance in the first place".
They were right really. Nobody was seriously injured - and it takes a while to build your confidence back up, but it does come back up.
That said, after my car was repaired from the accident below, I was always very nervous about driving it. Was much better when I got rid of it and got something different. I think the change of vehicle might help you.

epninety

deltic wrote: »

If you still feel a little nervous, give a local driving instructor a call and explain your situation. They may be able to offer an informal lesson or two just to give you a small amount of guidance and a large amount of reassurance. Driving Instructors are happy to do lessons for qualified drivers.

This would be better than a 4x4 course as this focuses on driving off road which it sounds like you are unlikely to do.

Also a very good idea. What a 'normal' instructor can't do though, is help to eliminate the 'panic' response to feeling a car going out of control. That really only comes from familiarity. A skidpan course, or a good off-road driving course, will go some way to doing that.

I suspect that in kimevans case, a skidpan course would be the best thing, as it will give her the confidence that she can handle the situation that worries her the most.

People buy 4x4s for many reasons, but often they are sold on the 'go anywhere' image. In my experience, new owners are frequently afraid of even putting one wheel off tarmac, or convinced they are invincible because of the 4x4 badge. Even a half days training often leaves people amazed (a) what their vehicle *is* capable of, if used properly, and (b) how easily they can get stuck or damage the vehicle, if not.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Kimevans, don't dismiss this winter tyre thing as some have tried to say they are of no use.

Winter tyres are constructed with a much higher silica content in the tread compound, this for some scientific reason makes them much more sticky on the road below 7 degrees when normal tyres run out of grip.

For some years now we have obtained a set of used wheels (alloys or steel, but if you want to do the same get the wheel nuts with them, they will normally be different to yours), and have bought a set of good quality (vredestein/nokian/ many others but please not Chinese junk) winter tyres for use from say late November till March approx depending on weather.
Our road use is similar to yours, some town, but mainly rural or main roads that will have some nice slippery salt and some nice slippery icy patches.

We use Vredestein wintrac extreme and i would recommend these without reservation.

Believe me you will be amazed at the difference in grip you will feel.

We have winter tyres on the Hilux now and georgeous wife has complete confidence in the handling whereas the normal tyres had that light unsure feeling in the cold and damp, and was inclined to be 'tail happy', not anymore.

Loads of people will tell you this is baloney, but you are the one on the country roads, and the chances are they are townies anyway.

This may sound like a lot of expense but remember whilst youre on the winter tyres the others are not in use, plus you can save your nice alloys from all the corrosive salt.

If your looking for good winter tyres try www.camskill.co.uk
There are other sites as well.

All the best to you, i think you have bought a nice vehicle when your more used to it i would be surprised if you return to a car again.