Buying advice
He-Man approved agent or any garage?
"Can a mechanic fit dual controls?" is one of the questions Google surfaces most often around this trade, and the usual answer, that yes of course a good mechanic can, is technically true and completely misses the point. A competent mechanic can bolt a set in. What changes is the warranty you are left holding afterwards, and that difference is set by the manufacturer, not by the fitter.
This is worth ten minutes of reading before you book anything, because it is the one decision you cannot easily undo later.
What the manufacturer actually says
He-Man's own published position is the whole answer. Their standard cover is a parts warranty of one year. Their extended lifetime guarantee, the thing people actually mean when they talk about a lifetime warranty on dual controls, applies only when the controls are fitted by He-Man or by one of their approved agents.
Fit the same set through a general garage and the hardware is identical, but the extended cover is not available to you. You have a one-year parts warranty on a component you intend to rely on for the working life of the car.
That is not a sales argument we invented. It is on He-Man's warranty and installation pages, and you should read it yourself rather than take any fitter's word for it, ours included.
Why an approval scheme exists at all
Dual controls are not an accessory. They interrupt the driver's relationship with the brake, and on a manual the clutch, and they sit in a footwell that also contains airbag hardware and, increasingly, sensors. A vehicle-specific system is engineered around all of that. The approval scheme exists because the manufacturer wants the people fitting their product to know the particular quirks of the particular car.
It is also why the honest answer to "can dual controls be fitted to any car?" is no. He-Man build model-specific systems rather than one universal kit, so availability genuinely depends on your make, model and year.
How to check whether a fitter really is approved
This matters more than it should, because approval is easy to claim. Two things are worth doing:
- Check the manufacturer's own list rather than the fitter's website. He-Man publish who their approved agents are.
- Ask how long they have held the approval. It is a fair question and any genuine agent will answer it without hesitating.
For what it is worth, we have been a He-Man approved agent since 1989, and we are happy to be checked.
The registration and upkeep detail people miss
Two further points that rarely make it onto anyone's website. Extended cover generally has to be registered rather than simply happening, so ask your fitter to confirm that has been done and keep the paperwork. And a cable system has consumable parts: cables are a wear item and are expected to be replaced periodically. If nobody has mentioned that to you, ask.
What this means if you have already bought a set
We get this call regularly, usually from a trainee instructor who found a set second-hand and then discovered that most fitters will not touch it. It is not obstructiveness: a fitter has no way of knowing the history of the parts, and the warranty position on a used set is generally not transferable. Ring us and describe what you have got. Sometimes there is a sensible route through, and sometimes the honest advice is that the saving is not worth what you give up.
Where to go next
If you want the detail on the genuine product and the agent relationship, that is our He-Man Dual Controls page. If your question is more about the fitting itself, what gets checked and what gets tested, read Dual Control Installations. And if you would rather we came to you than lose a morning to a workshop trip, see Mobile Dual Control Fitting.