Business Profile
If you pass by Reitmeir’s Werkstatt on First Street in Los Altos around 8 a.m., you’ll see a lot of German-made cars lined up waiting for service, including regular maintenance and performance checks.
Reitmeir’s Werkstatt, Inc. has been in the same location in Los Altos for 31 years. The owner, Joe Reitmeir, a native of Germany, emigrated to Wisconsin when he was 20 and worked in a shop that featured Volkswagens. Not being used to cold Wisconsin winters, he relocated to California and started working on Volkswagens at 309 First St. in Los Altos. The shop has grown since then and it now specializes in Porsche, Mercedes, Audi and Volkswagen.
Jeff Reitmeir, his son, was born and raised in Los Altos and received his education in Los Altos schools. Included in his education was a year in the De Anza College auto technology program. He has worked in the shop since 1978.
“Since we have been in the same location for the last 31 years, our customers are mostly Los Altos residents or people who work in Los Altos,” Jeff Reitmeir said. “They bring in their car for general maintenance since we don’t do any body work or smog tests.”
The shop has six employees and all the mechanics are factory trained and technician certified. Rick Bower works on Porsche and Audis. Jeff Reitmeir works on BMWs, and Hans Lamers works on Mercedes and Volkswagens.
“The latest model cars are easy to work on,” Lamers said. “But when something goes wrong with older cars, they can be a problem and hard to work on.”
Joe Reitmeir runs the front office, handles work assignments and road tests the cars after the work is completed. Hanging on the wall in the garage area are hundreds of awards and plaques accumulated over the years for work performance.
“Routine maintenance is approved for factory warranties, but warranty repair work must be done by the new car dealer,” Jeff Reitmeir said. “We can work on any extended warranty work that is not included in a factory warranty.”
New cars use electronic chips and some electronic movements can make for difficult repairs. With this in mind, Reitmeir’s Werkstatt has the tools necessary to check today’s cars electronically.
In his spare time, Jeff Reitmeir drives his Porsche 944 in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) performance races. He has two national championships and is a five-time champion in the BS street stock class.
Jeff Reitmeir’s wife, Stacy, also drives a sports car and finished second two years ago in the A stock class in a Porsche 911, averaging 118.218 mph in her event.
This September, both Jeff and Stacy Reitmeir will be in Topeka, Kan for the SCCA nationals. They are entered in the same class. Jeff will drive his Porsche 944 and Stacy will be driving a new BMW-M3.
“I think he’s a pretty good driver,” Lamers said of Jeff, “but we do all the performance checks on his Porsche here in the shop. When it leaves here, it’s in great condition.”
