Has anyone got over a fear of parking?

[Mishmashs]

Passed my test at 18, moved to a huge city and didn’t drive for 25 years. Now I need to (moved out of big city) and had 7 or 8 lessons last autumn with a great teacher. All fine and he was confident to let me finish (he asked me if I wanted to stop after lesson four but I wanted to do dual carriageways and a few other things). I actually like driving once on the move but I hate parking!

We have a Honda CRV and the first 30 min drive I did in it along a windy coast road all fine until I got to the destination, a crowded community pool carpark where the only available space was in the back corner of the carpark. just couldn’t park it , got increasingly stressed (actually got BO from sweating! And cried afterwards) and had to get out to let my husband takeover and park it, with a driver of another car waiting v patiently while all this was going on. It really knocked my confidence for six and I’ve now got it into my head I just can’t park etc etc. even just now I went out to the supermarket where there were loads of spaces and still couldn’t park in one go neatly, took about three reverses out and back again.

I find it all so off putting if I know I’ll have to park somewhere eg from Thursday need to take my daughter to a sport where the carpark is always v busy. It’s like I have a mental blank about which way to turn the wheel etc and if anyone gets stuck behind me waiting it makes it 100 times worse.

has anyone been similar and got over this? If so how? Is it just relentless practice? :( To make it worse we have a v tight driveway we have to reverse into made worse by cars parked opposite making the room v tight.

I think not being able to see the white lines is normal, it's what your wing mirrors are for. Which with electric wings is really easy, get your wings lined up so you can see the lines and reverse, just remember to shift them back in to your normal driving position after, so much of my driving involves reversing that my passenger side wing is generally set up for speedy reversing situations, I just have to remember to get it back into the right spot before heading on to a dual carriageway.
Honestly OP practice using your wing mirrors, you'll have parking licked in no time.

Licked? How the hell did 'sorted' get changed to licked? That's a new one even for autocorrect!

Is your car quite big?

It is practice.

In all honesty I prefer driving a smaller car for this reason but have driven a larger car

I don't like manoeuvring or parking if someone is hovering tbh

I'm a confident driver, do 400 Miles a week from the south coast to London and round the M25. Bloody hate parking. I live in a victorian terrace with on street parallel parking, and frequently leave a space outside my front door to find an easier one. I'll avoid reversing into a bay and always drive in front first if I possibly can. I am better now than I was 15 years ago, and I'm also driving a corsa (thanks ULEZ) rather than an estate which helps massively.

It is SUCH a relief to hear even the most confident drivers amongst us sometimes have problems!

I never considered raising the seat but will give that a go.

and get on with the practice! I’ll aim for the supermarket carpark at a quiet time.

ive been feeling slightly ashamed as all the women in my family are super drivers (my sister drives a massive truck thing! Not in the UK but in difficult terrain and has no problems) and I’ve been on the verge of tears trying to park in bloody Tesco!

@anunlikelyseahorse i think licked can mean beaten so it could work!

I'm shit at parallel parking as I was never taught how (it wasn't in the test when I passed!)

I bought a car with self parking. Which I'm too scared to use. 😂However, it does have a rear camera which has improved my parking immeasurably.

it is to do with practice though - if you are scared to do it then you won't try and therefore don't get the practice. Plus you build it up in your head as something you can't do. I used to drive around looking for easy "drive straight in" spots so that I never had to try and parallel park.

Taking daughter to school, started as I can't possibly park there to I can get in there easy in a couple of years (reverse parking on the street). Practise and necessity.

Buy a trailer. Reverse park that for a few weeks. You’ll never worry about parking a car again 😂

It really is just practice, though. Set yourself up to succeed by picking east spaces and walking further, take your time, don’t worry about other people. Confidence comes from previous success, so it will get easier.

Yes, me - used to be really scared of parking for some reason. Made myself do it loads and now can put my car anywhere. Can you find somewhere quiet where it would be possible to practice a bit OP so you don't have the pressure of traffic building up?

My one top tip is that it's MUCH easier to park in reverse.

Don't feel ashamed, nobody is great at everything. Just keep practicing, you'll get there!

I'm 5'4" too and drive a pick up truck and small hatchback. I can't see over the bonnet or see the lines out the windows in either car - this is pretty normal I think. I use the wing mirrors with no problems. Are you adjusting the mirrors to your height?

Other than this, I agree with others that confidence comes with practice! Drive to some local car parks and just keep parking over and over until you're bored. If you don't get the line quite right and need to straighten up, don't let that panic you! Even people with years & years of driving experience don't get it right 100% of the time.

I've just had a set of refresher lessons after passing my test then not driving for years. Those small round blind spot mirrors that go on wing mirrors are a huge help. Makes it much easier to see lines and kerbs clearly.

Also sometimes just park badly and who cares ? Like no one is going to die if you are over the lines in a massive car park or a bit out of the space on the road.

and being short makes it much harder

Lived rurally all my life so driving was never not an option. No problems with parking . There is ONE essential trick to it. TURN THE WHHELS BEFORE YOU MOVE... once you have mastered this, you will be able to park in the smallest spaces suitable for your car. You don't need parking sensors !

Turning the wheels while you’re stationary is a good way to destroy your steering. I wouldn’t recommend it.

I’ve been driving over 30 years and still hate going somewhere where I don’t know the parking situation.
I’ve parallel parked once in my life & then the spot was huge.
I reverse into a carpark space fine, but only from one direction! I’m actually still cringing about reversing into a large (disabled) spot at an appointment recently. When I got back to the car it wasn’t straight at all -the shame.
I have even been known to drive and park several streets away from somewhere because I couldn’t find a spot large enough to drive in to & I park after my wheels have bumped the kerb so I know I’m close enough.
You are not alone op.

I’m sure it will come with practice but in the meantime… I cannot confidently reverse park and I def can’t parallel park, so I don’t! If I’m going somewhere that might have limited parking I try to make sure I have plenty of time in case I need to park further away or wait for a convenient space.

A reversing camera really made a massive difference to me. I now find it easier reversing into a space than going forward a lot of the time.

I still struggle parking from a certain angle so avoid more difficult spaces. I just find somewhere else or wait. I also used to panic if I felt I was struggling but if you watch people park, a lot do need to straighten up on a second try, so no big deal. Problem is cars are much bigger than they used to be making it more difficult too.

I passed my test in a short window in time when parallel parking wasn't covered. Despite having a couple of lessons devoted to this I still can't do it thirty years later. And narrow gaps in car parks give me hives!

There are some good YouTube videos which give you an explanation of the technique.
If you search you will find loads.

Op Im awful at my daughters sport. Some venues have narrow parking. Cant seem to do it. Another dad had to move mine!! My daughter blood P rises as does mine lol. I tried taking my time then I panic lol.

It’s like I have a mental blank about which way to turn the wheel etc

You turn the wheel as if you are steering the back of your car. Once my dad told me that it was obvious!

Complete and utter bollocks. Assuming you aren't driving a 1974 morris marina and actually have power steering, you HAVE to turn the wheel (while the engine is running obviously) or you won't get into the space. And will look like a pathetic 'useless woman driver'

I just passed my driver's license and I don't have much experience, it's good that I have an electric car and it helps me park, I'm very worried on my own

The time to mess up parking is always with an audience. I would say, just try and stay calm, take your time and don't worry.

When you have the opportunity, just practice as much as you can in a quiet car park and practice parallel parking in a quiet side road.

I'm actually brilliant at parking and live it when I nail parallel parking in front of an audience, its such a buzz.

We all have our nemesis though - mine is reversing a trailer - hopeless!

Its all about angles.