Hahna Lavarre was stunned and scared when her car caught on fire while driving to work.
The Papamoa woman was driving between Papamoa and Tauranga when her car started idling before smoke and flames started billowing from it. She had dropped her 3-year-old daughter at daycare moments before.
Lavarre said she parked up in the nearest safest spot, which was at Papamoa Plaza, and jumped out of her car. She was surrounded by smoke and saw flames underneath her car and under the bonnet.
"I could see smoke coming from everywhere," Lavarre said.
"Paint all over the bonnet had just completely melted," she said.