Palo Alto Speedometer

Great service, reasonably priced. One of the most professional business serving the auto industry in the Nation! Tempe all tune and Lube had destroyed my entire car and fried everything electronic resulting in 7k+ damages (of which they never paid). Nick at palo Alto was nice and understanding to get my new odometer programmed quickly and shipped it back extremely well packaged! This place deserves all the business in this world!

I can’t understand these negative reviews. I’ve known about them for 20 years, but never had to avail myself of their services. But I’ve recently taken a shine to older bikes and had to send them a tach and speedometer from my ’79 BMW R65. They fixed them right up and sent them back but after a couple of weeks I hadn’t gotten them and it turns out Fed Ex had lost them. Without a hitch, they said they’d replace the cans. But they did so much more. They sent me a set of brand new clocks for my modded R65 and made the bike look like a million bucks. I would have been happy with a used set, even if they weren’t as nice looking as the ones I sent, I mean, it’s not their fault Fed Ex lost the package, but they made it clear this was not my problem which is rare these days. I recommend these guys because they not only do good work, but they’re good people.

I had a recent negative experience here with trying to get my vintage Jaeger Italia clock for my old Lancia restored. Based on the fact I was told, in an email, they have all the parts for my car’s clock in stock and the typical turn around time would be about two weeks, I shipped the clock off to Palo Alto Speedometer on December 15, 2013. After having the clock sit on their work bench (with four other clocks I was told) for approximately a month and a half, and after several phone calls, and after getting several various excuses, I began to understand that I was just wasting my time. One excuse they told me is they could not find a quartz movement to fit into my clock. Finally, I asked them to ship the clock back to me. They did so, and it arrived in one piece and without any charge. This much I give them credit for, and this bit of good customer service alone prevents me from giving them a one star rating. I cannot in good faith, recommend Palo Alto Speedometer to anyone.
The solution:
At the advice of a local Ferrari mechanic, and friend, I shipped the clock to MO MA in Albuquerque, NM (see my other review here on Unilocal). I had the clock back fully functional, with a brand new quartz movement and keeping perfect time, in less than one month.

Just got back from Palo Alto Speedometer — I am so blessed to have them just 10 minutes away — they are awesome — customer service is fantastic! So they fixed my Tachometer — and it is installed and in good shape! Ask for Hartmut — he is the man!

This team is the best. They were excellent at follow, up and keeping me informed. If you need cluster/​spedo work do business with confidence. They really are the best. thank you one again for a job well done.

This place is fantastic — I’ve got nothing but great things to say about Hartmut and Palo Alto Speedometer. He’s an experienced expert, very talented in his field, (as noted by previous reviewer, he’s known — in a positive way — worldwide in the speedo biz) and fixed my instrument cluster in no time flat (3 days). Saved me big bucks over buying a new one.
The guy who has the [only] negative review might have a screw loose himself… I can’t imagine that P A Speedometer (in business since 1957 — hello!) would neglect the basics that he claims. Like most reviewers here, I wouldn’t hesitate to bring any type of dashboard instrumentation to Hartmut for diagnosis and repair!
Thanks again for saving me a bundle!

Cheryl was having some problems with her BMW odometer. The light was not working or something and you just could not read it most of the time. She asked me if i knew anyone that could take care of it. I wanted to get a used cluster from a junkyard but learned that it would cost big $$$ to reprogram it and that a repair was the best option.
A quick search of Google and Unilocal produced a lot of results but after calling all of them… Palo Alto speedometer was the only place that could actually repair the problem on site. They had one bad review but i could see that the person who wrote this review was just being vindictive and exaggerating his facts as well so i just ignored it. I am glad that i did give Palo Alto speedometer a chance.
Palo Alto speedometer is located in Downtown Palo Alto near university ave. i went during my lunch hour and the parking was crazy!
The manager was named Hartman and he is a really fair guy i felt. On the phone he said if i dropped the cluster off on monday… it would be ready by friday for sure. Cheryl’s boyfriend pulled it out on Sunday and we gave the cluster to them on Monday.
Wednesday we got a message from an employee named Linda that the cluster was ready to go! Cheryl and i drove up thursday morning and got it (price was $ 50 cheaper than quoted !!!) and installed it that night.
The Odometer sprang to life right away and now we can see when to do the oil change and maintenance again. They said that they also replaced the lights that light up at night too! I waited a couple weeks to write this review just to make sure but the warranty was 2 years so i am sure everything will be OK then just like it is today!
Thanks for the Great service!

I have known of Palo Alto Speedometer for years, but never had to go.
Driving along the back roads of Briones Reservoir i my speedometer acted up. Next thing I knew it was whirring and the sound of ghastly gears grinding.. I couldn’t believe that in some ways the spinning gears of the speedo was as loud as the engine, but not nearly as pleasant.
So. being a tiny bit mechanically inclined I was able to remove a small bracket from behind the dashboard and eventually unplug the speedo so I could pull it out. I was able to drop a lot of poly lubricant deep into it. and put it back in. Alas. when doing so. poof I realized that the bracket was missing at least one bracket nut. So along came Palo Alto Speedo where I can obtain this hard to find part and put the thing back together with some new grommets and a couple of lights.
I had with me a tachometer of a later era model of my 911, so I was also able to ask them about backdating this tach with the more aesthetic earlier era version, and even get it calibrated. They would do this through a remarkable silkscreen process and presto, Ill be in business.
Palo Alto Speedometer is you all you need for VDO gauge repair.

I had a terrible experience at this shop. I brought in the instrument panel from my 1967 Corvette because the speedometer and tachometer needles wobbled all the time. The owner of the shop, Hartmutt, told me he was well experienced with this problem in classic Vettes and fixing it would be no big deal and that he’s done that job many times before. Sooooo, two long months later (during which my car was not available to drive) and after many, many phone calls, the work finally gets done and I pay the bill. Now, there are many specialty Corvette repair shops that will do this same job within a week, so eight weeks of waiting is a long, long time. Hartmutt claimed that he was forever «waiting on parts,» even though I’m well aware that even obscure parts are readily available in the Corvette aftermarket industry that has formed over the past few decades.
After putting the instruments back into my car, I found that the speedo and tach worked OK, but that this shop had broken my trip odometer! I’ve owned 20+ classic Corvettes and the trip odo always works, it’s indestructible! But, somehow this shop managed to break one thing while fixing two others. The owner did agree that his shop had done the damage to my odometer, and that they (not I) would take out the whole instrument panel this time and fix the problem ASAP. Unfortunately, over the next many days I called the owner many times and he thought up one reason after the other to stall me. He clearly was not going to put his time into a job someone (me) had already paid for.
Long story short: I took my car to another shop, which specializes in Corvettes, and they removed the instrument panel. What they found was that Hartmutt had left a screw out of the assembly that holds the odometer unit on to the main instrument panel. There are only three screws that perform that function, and this shop left one out! Next, they stripped three of the six screws that attach the speed and tack to the main IP. Finally, having stripped three screws, they simply left they like that! They are called «Palo Alto SPEEDOMETER» and they didn’t have the sense to the two main instruments to the instrument panel?! What kind of service to you call that? I call it «bad service.» Eventually, the speedo and tach would have worked loose from the instrument panel and made a lot of noise and gotten damaged.
In fifty nears of car enthusiasm, I’ve never sun across this combination of incompetence and bad attitude! Do yourself a favor, google the name of this shop and read the complaints from owners of Porsches, Lotuses, etc. Avoid this shop at all costs!

You might not know this, but Palo Alto Speedometer is famous all over the country and in Europe, too. I was on the phone with a company in Minnesota about getting a new tachometer and they suggested I «call a place called Palo Alto Speedometer». I replied that it’s walking distance from my house. They have tackled some exasperating problems for my cars and have the rare expertise to solve the most challenging dilemmas. Harmut and crew are honest in their diagnoses and charges. I am so thankful that they own the building, so they are not ever going to be forced to move. What a treasure.

these guys are awesome. they rebuilt my instrument cluster on my mercedes, saved me a ton of money and now my guages and speedo work flawlessly.