Palo Alto Auto Repair

I have had cars repaired (an old 280Z, a beloved 85 audi) by Gary for 15 years. He is down to earth, honest, reasonable, and reliable. Never had a problem.

These guys have been maintaining my family's cars for about 25 years. They're honest, reliable, good guys. When my VW Jetta was starting that "imploding maneuver" that most VW's do after about 50,000 miles, Kurt's advice to me was to get a different car. His reasoning (this is verbatim, here): "I know you're don't make a lot of money (I'm a teacher), and I don't want to take your money like this anymore. I want you in a car that's RELIABLE." Seriously, how many mechanics these days actually say that? These guys will have my business until they close shop, or cars start fixing themselves. It's that simple.

He looked over our last jeep before we bought it--did a great job, very thorough.

Gary Meissner is the best. A trusted auto mechanic who knows cars well, and provides excellent service. I took my car here after a dealer tried to sell me on doing $4000 in repairs. Gary looked at it and found that the radiator hose was the only thing that needed to be replaced. If I could get my mom on the internet she would say the same thing, she has been bringing her cars to Gary for 15 years now, and only has positive things to say about him. Meissner Automotive has excellent mechanics, and excellent service.

I honestly could not have been happier. Found this place based on recommendations shared among Googlers, and came based on people's consistently great experiences + rumor that the guys at the shop will drive you to and from the CalTrain if they're available. I had spent 1 year cursing at my car as it stalled spontaneously at every other stoplight. I took it to another place in Mtn View and spent $420 on an "educated guess" which didn't work out. I took it for an estimate to a place in Menlo Park, who even kept it for a week to drive around and see if they could repeat the problem -- and then drove around WITH me and of course it just wouldn't stall. I needed the Dr. House of mechanics for this puzzling one. It was a few months ago, so I don't remember the guy's name, but his dad owns the shop -- I think it might be Kurt or Karl -- and he was a total whiz. Drove it around a lot, gave me a very honest opinion -- that his too would be an "educated guess" and seemed sincerely stressed out that it wouldn't work and he would have spent my money without results. But it worked like magic thanks to some fancy scope diagnostic he had -- ended up changing out the position sensor. I particularly appreciated that they drove it around a bunch afterwards to confirm that things seemed to have worked -- and I haven't had it stall once since then, so it is FINALLY fixed. They are a "higher tech" shop so I wouldn't go here for routine tune-ups and what-not -- labor was I believe $100/hour -- but for the puzzlers, they are incredibly experienced and give excellent customer service. I now live in SF and will happily drive down if I have another stumper!

Gary Meissner opened this place over 30 years ago and could easily close the shop, sell the land, and retire, but then he wouldn't be doing what he loves: talking cars, teasing people, and griping about all of those damn dot-commers... These guys are great and most important of all, they're honest. Their prices are fair on both labor and equipment and if something isn't fixed right, take it back and they'll take care of it. I take my old 94 Jeep Wrangler to them once a year for the regular tune up. At no point have I ever thought that they were trying to pull a fast one on me. In fact, for one pricier thing that needed done, they told that I could put it off for a while if I didn't want to spend the money.