Scratched the Cayenne…

The other day, I scratched the right rear side of my Cayenne. After all the proud talk on this blog about “safe driving” and whatnot, I ended up doing exactly the opposite…

To explain what happened: this Sunday (today) is the Hyogo Prefecture governor election, but since I couldn’t make it on the day, I decided to go early voting. When I parked at the nearest facility’s parking lot, I scratched the rear block.

I had parked there many times before and was familiar with it. Usually, I park where no one else is or where there’s no block behind. But that day, the parking lot was a bit crowded, and for a moment I thought, “Maybe I should move to the upper floor,” but that felt like a hassle, so I decided to park in a spot with a block behind.

While backing up, I was thinking, “Even though it’s the governor election, who should I vote for? Should I decide based on their pledges or the party?” Then suddenly, I heard a “scrape” sound accompanied by a dull impact.

Ah… I messed up…

When parking, the sensors beep “beep beep” if they detect obstacles, but since the Cayenne is a big car, the warning often goes off, and I guess I had gotten used to it.

I hurriedly checked behind and found that I had scraped the right rear all the way to the rubber trim.

Ahhh…

“Why on earth did I come for early voting…?” “Why didn’t I try parking on a less crowded floor…?”

Regret swirled in my mind, but it was nothing but my own carelessness. Since it was my fault, all I can do is reflect and tighten up my focus.

I just sent my husband a message saying, “I scratched the Cayenne,” then headed to the early voting site, but my mind was nowhere near the election. I was consumed by regret, reflection, and worries about how much the repair would cost, and ended up finishing voting in a distracted state…

Returning to a Beginner’s Mindset

Later, my husband called after seeing my message, and we talked a bit.

“Lately, you’ve gotten too comfortable driving, haven’t you? You need to refocus on safe driving—stop completely at stops, be extra careful when parking, and keep your attention sharp.”

He was absolutely right. I’m sorry…

Thinking back, when I started driving again after being a paper driver for over 10 years, I was much more cautious. Though I drove slowly, I was very aware of safety—constantly checking “Will a car come out from the side?” “Is my following distance appropriate?” “Are there any motorcycles nearby?” I was so focused on safety that it was obvious.

Looking at it that way, this scratch was caused by my complacency and overconfidence. It’s a relief it wasn’t a major accident, but I have nothing but remorse.

Porsches are easy to drive, and they can give you the illusion that your driving skills have improved. I think that contributed to my lapse in focus. From now on, I want to tighten up again, return to a beginner’s mindset, and drive safely.

By the way, I plan to send it for repairs starting today. I’ll report back on the repair costs and how the scratch was fixed in a future blog post.