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Speedometer Calibration
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1-804-423-1100

Save hundreds of dollars in speeding ticket fines and insurance costs!

 

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  SPEEDOMETER ACCURACY TESTING:

  • While you wait 9 to 4 Weekdays

  • No appointment needed Monday to Friday 9 to 4 PM

  • Certified Speedometer Calibration.
    (Richmond's Only Speedometer Calibration Center)

  • Free! Notarized Calibration Certificate for Court

  • All Vehicles Except Motorcycles

  • Semi Trucks and Full Time Four Wheel Drive (AWD FWD) 

Traffic Courts often drop or reduce a speeding ticket or reckless driving ticket based on a "faulty equipment plea." We provide notarized Speedometer Calibration Certificates free along with the calibration fee. The speedometer calibration test costs just $110. 

 

Speedometer Calibration Certificates are accepted in most courts including those in Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, North Carolina, West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

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We can test your speedometer accuracy "while you wait" right here in Richmond, Virginia. Please note there is an additional fee to actually correct the inaccuracy if any is found. Occasionally we must refer folks to a car dealer to make the speedometer adjustment. From tractor-trailers to full-time four-wheel drive vehicles we can test them. But we no longer do motorcycles. Plus we are a full service speedometer calibration and repair center.

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We are the only Richmond speedometer testing center serving the Mid-Atlantic area that tests speedometers in full time 4wd vehicles, (four wheel drive), like Jeeps and many other SUVs. 

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                                                         IMPORTANT NOTICE:

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We reserve the right to refuse to test vehicles that appear to have the speedometer tampered with. We do not intend for people to try to "beat a speeding ticket". We support safe driving practices and the enforcement of state traffic laws. However, we encourage asking the court to reduces or drop the charges when speedometer mis-calibration causes a person to get a speeding ticket or worse a reckless and reckless driving violation.

Common Causes For Speedometer Inaccuracy.

Below are some of the reasons speedometers may be off.  The key fact is just a 2 mph error could reduce a Careless and Reckess to a speeding fine. A BIG difference in fines and insurance cost 

1. OEM Factory Error. US car manufacturers use a SAE J1226 specifications allow a  4% error!  That could mean about 3 mph at 70.  (This error is not necessarily +/- 2%, just no more than 4% and that of the full scale reading.)

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2. OEM Factory Error. European car manufacturers use the ECR-39 specification with a -0 to +10% tolerance plus 4km

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3. Tire Size Change Error. Tire size can a have  some effect especially if a big change is made like on trucks. Use our Tire-Calculator to see what effect tire size has. Note, it is the outside diameter of the tire NOT the rims  that matters, so a skinny tire on a big rim may not actually change the tire diameter and hence no error.

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4. Tire Inflation Error. Tire inflation only has a small effect with modern radial tires. Bias ply tires of the past could show a significant error when over-inflated as the tires could expand. 

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5. Tire Wear Error. Tire wear only has a small to moderate effect. For example a common R15 tire the change from new to almost bald diameter is maybe 7/8 inch in diameter, resulting in just a 2.6 mph error at 60 mph

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6. Parallax Error.  This comes from the driver looking at the speedometer needle from different angles (above or below) on certain speedometers.  The needle is slightly in front of the dial plate with the numbers.  So speeds at the 3 or 9 o'clock position may look different from looking down at the dial vs looking up. Try it!

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7. Mechanical speedometers (cars before 1995 or so) are sometimes sluggish at low temperatures as their lubricants may thicken in the cold.  So the speed may read low starting out in the day before the interior of the car warms up.

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8. Mechanical speedometers also may drag due to wear especially after 150k miles or so, They may not show small changes in speed. More wear will often cause a wavering or bouncing of the needle / pointer.

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               Virginia Traffic Ticket, Reckless Driving and Speeding Ticket Lawyers

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