I’m not a fan of cars, and I’m neither experienced nor especially competent when it comes to DIY. I’ve changed my car stereo before, but it felt like it was pushing the limits of my competence.

Wendy’s indicator in her car had been working intermittently for over a year, and recently stopped working altogether. I’d searched the web and come to the amateur conclusion that the indicator stalk had corroded, which seemed to be a common problem in her car’s model. Wendy asked the garage to repair it when she took it for an MOT, but they said they couldn’t do it. At another garage, they said they’d have to get a specialist in.

And that’s how I ended up buying a replacement indicator stalk online, and following a YouTube tutorial to fix the problem. It was straightforward, taking me about ninety minutes (over two days) and requiring no specialist tools. It did require taking the steering wheel off, which looked quite dramatic.

It all went back together effortlessly (with no bits left over!) and is working splendidly. I was really proud of myself for taking this on, despite it being way out of my comfort zone, and reaching a satisfying conclusion.

It also made me reflect on repairability, from two different perspectives.

Firstly: in the pre-internet era, would I have had the confidence to tackle this with nothing more than a Hayes manual? I think almost certainly not. There’s something reassuring about seeing multiple people tackle the task on video, and getting a proper visual sense of what to expect at each stage.

Secondly: if we had more up-to-date cars, would this be a manageable task? Again, I think almost certainly not. I suspect that modern cars are far less user-repairable, and that there would probably be some garage programming required to replace an electrical part. It seems unlikely that it would be plug-and-play, which wouldn’t be ideal in these climate challenged times.

And so, I suspect this repair has fallen at a very particular, fleeting moment in history. Technology gave me the confidence to tackle the job, but had not made the car itself too complex for a total amateur like me to be able to fix it.