To be sad we don’t have a car?

[ohitssnowww]

I have a licence but don’t drive at the minute as my anxiety is giving me panic attacks and I don’t feel safe driving.
My partner is a manager of a company and that includes a small company van (3 seats )
He changed his tax code and it’s around £65 ish a month but includes the insurance paid and also a fuel card.
We can use this van for personal use as he pays for it.
I still would love us to have a car as sometimes driving around in a signed van is a bit embarrassing (I know that sounds stupid )
Anyway my partners argument is why do we buy a car then pay for insurance etc and repairs when we have the company van and we don’t have to worry about petrol etc
My opinion is it would be nice to have both.
Anyone else get it or aibu ?

Op your fortunate to have a van our car was fuzzled 7 months ago couldn't afford to fix it and now completely car less ! Which is torture having to use taxis to work no buses here that run the time I work costing me £70 per week!

@ohitssnowww

i do kind of understand where you're coming from.

Our business had several vans & for a while we only had one car between us. The car was prioritised to the one with the greatest business need. So sometimes I had to take one of the vans to a social event or shopping etc. i always felt a bit 'wrong footed' arriving at a social event in it & it was a pain for grocery shopping.

However, it was a needs must situation, so made do until we could justify getting a second car.

you're in the same situation really, how could you justify the annual expense of running a second car just so it 'looks nicer' when you go out? It's a lot of money annually.

i think it would be totally justifiable if you sorted out your anxiety & began driving again, but until then I don't.

Oh for the laugh emoji 😂

I think the issue you actually need to focus on is your own anxiety around driving.

The embarrassment of riding in the van is really just something you’re manifesting yourself. I wouldn’t bat an eyelid if a friend turned up in their DH’s work van.

Ultimately your DH is right. You don’t need a car presently so if you want one I’d argue it’s incumbent on you to address this otherwise it’s a total waste of money sat depreciating on the drive.

@DarkForces haha 🤣🤣🤣🤣 yeah I meant shopping. If I decided to buy anything from Facebook marketplace or tip runs etc. However I could imagine it might mean you get every Tom dick and Harry asking you to move stuff 😂

YABU , if only one of you drives you definitely only need one vehicle and that is the van , absolutely no point in taxing / insuring another car for it to sit all week idle .

What an enormous waste of money buying another car

rather than buying a car and running it you could get a taxi if you really need your 5 door salon motoring experience

The fact it’s a logo van will prove (to those whose opinion you are worried about) that you have a decent hard working husband. And very affordable. What’s not to like?

Your concern is misplaced. Why not focus on tackling your driving anxiety rather than fret about what people might think seeing you being driven around in a van. (Spoiler - the vast majority of people won't give a flying fuck. I haven't the faintest idea what cars my friends drive even though they've given me lifts.)

Your partner is currently the only driver. He has a perfectly adequate and economical vehicle to drive and give you lifts. It's nuts to say that the sole driver needs to have two vehicles so you can "keep up appearances" as a passenger princess.

If you were able to get to a stage where you felt able to drive again, great, get yourself a car and enjoy your independence again.

Definitely team van. The only snags I can see is friends asking if you can just collect this sofa that I've bought on marketplace, that won't fit in my hot hatch and (not sure if this is general) the local tip/recycling centre doesn't allow sign written vans, other vans need a permit.

What is the point if you’re not driving, it will just be sat there not used which isn’t good for a car.

Personally, I don't think driving anxiety can be cured by anything other than driving.

So I would get another car but commit that you were the one driving it. Start small and make yourself practice local routes.

If DH breaks a foot or can't drive for whatever reason then you'd struggle.

I mean... if you have tons of spare money lying around and really want a car then get one, but you definitely don't need one. Is there a chance you'll be driving again soon, I think if not, then it's more up to him than you anyway. It's like anything in life, if you can afford it and want it, then do it, but if it means sacrificing a holiday this year, or you'll be tight on the mortgage, then it'd be a real waste of cash imo.

Oh it can. SIL won't let her husband have a van for his business because a van of any sort (even without a logo on it) looks bad on their driveway. So he goes through estate cars at a rate of knots as these are not designed to be carrying the sort of heavy equipment he has to transport every day.

Passenger Princess lol.

If it’s embarrassing then walk or take the bus. Be thankful you have a mode of transport.