Tim Runde

Tim Runde has been working for the Runde family car dealership near Dubuque for about as long as he can remember.  It’s been 40 years and 4 dealerships ago since Tim broke into the car business, and while time has passed, the Runde philosophy remains the same.

“We really try to focus on the customer and the experience of the customer.  The basic process of selling cars hasn’t changed.  We’ve just tried to make it faster and more efficient.”  Tim said.

The Runde family has been selling cars in East Dubuque since 1927 when Alfred Runde opened the first store.  “At that time, Chevrolet wasn’t the main business,” Runde said “They sold appliances and gas and even distributed beer.  The business stopped selling most of those products in the 1950’s and went to selling strictly cars in the 1970’s.” 

Today Runde Auto Group boasts four locations, over 100 employees, and they’ll normally stock anywhere between 1000 and 1500 vehicles (of course during the global Covid 19 Pandemic, those numbers have fallen to around 500-600 vehicles).  The group’s dealerships include Runde Chevy in East Dubuque, Runde PreDriven in Hazel Green, Runde Chevrolet-Buick-GMC in Platteville, and Runde Ford-Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Manchester, IA.

“We’re always looking at opportunities”, Runde said and added, “If an opportunity comes up, you have to go for it.”    Runde added that while expanding locations has been beneficial for business, it also presents challenges.  “There’s a lot of complexity to the business with factory programs, legal requirements, and about 125 regulatory laws that apply to car dealerships.  And it gets complicated having locations in three different states and selling new vehicles from several manufacturers”. 

Runde Auto Group has also had to make adjustments over the years to accommodate for the rise in technology.  Thirty years ago, you’d visit your preferred dealership near Dubuque to look at vehicles and the prices would have been on the window stickers.  You’d negotiate on the price of the car with the salesperson and then you’d buy it.  But now a customer may be eligible for 4 or 5 rebates and that changes things somewhat.   If a salesperson doesn’t take into consideration the car’s VIN number, how many days it’s been in stock, the customer’s zip code of residence, or they amount of earnings on a customer’s GM credit card (if applicable), then the customer might be missing out on rebates that they qualify for and no one wants to leave unclaimed money on the table.

Despite the challenges presented by technology and out of state expansion, technology has also helped Runde’s win over customers through their use of an online trade-in appraisal form and their online credit application.  These technologically advanced tools have allowed Runde’s to earn the business of distant customers who may not even have heard of Runde’s thirty years ago.  Business has been going well as Runde Auto Group has experienced steady growth over the last 15-20 years and we’re definitley looking forward to what the future holds.

Beyond managing business logistics, Tim Runde said his favorite part of the job is working with customers.  “I like dealing with people.”  he said, “A lot of customers I’ve known for 30-40 years so you get to know them pretty well and it’s a lot of fun.” 

And it seems his customers enjoy doing business with him as well which is evident from the online reviews and testimonials.

“I think Tim has a kind of unquestioned integrity and credibility in his industry, said Mike Donahue, president of US Bank in Dubuque.  “Everything he does is not about the transaction in front of him.  It’s about how to bring the customers back, as well as their friends and family,” he said.

And one of Tim’s long-time customers from Holy Cross, Iowa wrote: “I have been dealing with Runde Chevrolet for more than 25years!  In all of that time I cannot say that I had any unpleasant experience with this dealership!  Tim Runde is the most fair and knowledgeable salesman that I have ever purchased a vehicle from.  The service department and the rest of the staff are top notch as well!   I would recommend this dealership to anyone!”

Runde’s clearly comes highly recommended by many in the local Tri-State community so if you’re looking for a trustworthy dealership near Dubuque, please check out everything that Runde’s has to offer.

This article was originally written by Sara Gross in 2005.   It has since been modified to reflect the changes that have taken place at Runde’s since the article first appeared.