You might remember Justin Hanger from our blog post back in April. Click here to refresh your memory.  Justin works part-time after school for us taking the online photos of cars, and recording  vehicle videos. This is his story… Justin started life in Pensacola, FL, where he lived until he was three. Health complications related to his grandparents forced his family to return to small town life in nearby Dickeyville, WI. He has one sister (Andrea, 19) and two brothers (Brian, 13 and Brandon, 6). All of the boys attend Cuba City Schools, with Justin being a Senior at the high school. At the age of 10, Justin got his first experience driving on a cold winter day when he ran a four-wheeler into the back of the neighbors Jeep.  He was driving down the road when he hit a snowbank, which sent him into a cataclysmic spiral towards the aforementioned Jeep. “It barely knocked off the dust off the bumper” according to Justin, but it all [...]

Ok, who’s excited about the 2010 Ford Mustang?  I know I am for one and I’m sure other ‘Stang fans out there are eagerly awaiting the arrival of this car.  Arnold Schwarzenegger kept on building his guns of steel year after year. After building and fine tuning his body through years of practice, he became known as one of the best body builders known. I want all of you to meet the new Arnold in town… the 2010 Mustang. Initially, people were concerned that the new 2010 Mustang would not boast a better engine than the currently used 4.6-liter V8.  Well, to everyone’s pleasant surprise, the 2010 Mustang will be packing an all-new 32-valve, 5.0-liter V8 code-named “Coyote.” According to Ford Australia’s product development director, Russell Christophers, Ford Motor [...]

So often we see television programs overloaded with commercial after commercial.  And for about the past 8 or 9 years these same commercials have made their way into the movie theaters just to annoy us when we show up early for a flick.  Furthermore, we have have to ask if there is anyone out there who would just like to view a news clip on CNN or Youtube for once without having to watch the preceding commercial.   From the day we posted our first blog entry, it has always been our policy at here Runde Auto Chat to provide you with uninterrupted, good old-fashioned, wholesome, family-oriented blogging.  We haven’t cluttered our blog site with unnecessary and unwarranted advertisements until now … Please take a minute to watch Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as they persuade you to purchase products like Big Red chewing gum.     But seriously folks … If you [...]

Annoying warranty calls?  Who’s a fan of them?  Anyone?  Why am I hearing nothing but crickets right now?  Consider the situation below … You are expecting an important call today. While waiting in line at the grocery store you just wonder when that call is going to come. Going out to your car with your hands, arms, neck, and mouth holding what seems to be 25 bags of groceries and a gallon of milk you finally hear your phone ring. Seeing that your vehicle is still a ways away, you decide that the call might be too important to miss and start to panic. You quickly start putting all the groceries on the cement while trying to get your hand free to take the call which is inconveniently in your least accessible pocket. Huffing and puffing, you finally get the phone and are excited to hear the important information you have been waiting for all [...]

I noticed this commercial online on the American Idol website.  Thought it was pretty cool.  It starts out with a Ford Fusion sedan, which I must say is an awesome looking car.  It’s equipped with SYNC — the voice activated digital music system that Ford currently makes use of in cars like the ford Fusion sedan and Focus (you might recall the famous Focus commercial where one guy is trying to embarrass his friend by saying “Play Michael Bolton” into his friend’s SYNC system.)   Anyhoo – getting back to the Idol commercial … the lady in the Fusion says “Play artists American Idols” and then the commercial shows Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey, and Kris Allen getting into a bit of a jam, but escaping in a Ford Mustang.  It’s a little hokey (Gokey gettin’ hokey), but that was sure a sweet-lookin’ Mustang that they [...]

This week I had the chance to interview Johnny Kramer.  He has worked her for a while now and is responsible for several laughs around the PreDriven Used Car store and is a pleasure to talk with. Going out of the Runde Chevrolet building you are almost guaranteed to see the house he lives in on the western horizon as it lies on the hill across from Runde’s overlooking our every move. What do you do here at Runde’s? I’m a detailer. I do everything:  lot maintenance, checking cars for gas levels, making sure they start promptly, washing the cars and cleaning them up, and basically just making sure they are ready to go.

One of the most important holidays of the year is coming up … Mother’s Day. If you forgot about it or if you just weren’t paying attention, then you’d better get your butt in gear and plan out something special for dear old mom. Listen to Jeff Mohr, Pat Tucker, Dawson Rollinger (RIP), Gary Reiter and a few other employees discuss what they’re going to do for their mom on Mother’s Day. Don’t fret … there’s still time to shop if you haven’t done so already!!!   Even if you don’t have the means to buy something nice for your mother, it’s important to do something for you mom to show her how much she means to you.  

Today I sat down for a chat with Casey Fluhr of Runde Chevrolet.  Casey is another one of those smiling faces I always see while walking around the dealership ready to help customers at a moment’s notice.  I must say he’s thrown a lot of warm-hearted  “good morning’s” and “how-ya-doin’s” my way over the past few years, so I’m now sharing him with the world through this short interview. We might as well get right down to it — What do you do here? Service consultant … when you bring a vehicle in for service, we will check you in and ask you what’s wrong with your vehicle.  I write repair orders and talk to mechanics about the vehicle problems. How long have you worked here? I’ve been here almost 16 years.   I started out washing cars here as a high school job and then worked my way up to where I am now. Are [...]

Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone.  Everyone is excited for the holiday and to add to that excitement is a very sharp looking 2010 black Chevy Camaro coupe.  Mayonaise, Mayo Clinic, OJ Mayo of the Memphis Grizzlies, or a cute child uttering “may-oh” instead of “mail” may all share part of its name, but since when can you party with sandwich spread? That’s right folks, it’s 5th of May. May 5th is the celebration of the Mexican army defeating the larger French army on May 5, 1862 where 4,000 Mexican soldiers  fought against 8,000 French soldiers. Overcoming odds, the Mexican army defended its territory when the French tried to invade the Mexican city “Puebla”.  The holiday is celebrated across Mexico and America as people celebrate their independence and freedom. So go out and celebrate – maybe you can enjoy some Pico De Gallo on your Cinco De Mayo.  Head to Los Aztecas for their burrito [...]

Today I had the great pleasure of meeting and getting to know Tiffany and Randy Wuertzer after buying a car at Runde’s. Randy Wuertzer owns Best Shot Paintball field located in Asbury and Tiffany will soon be attending the University of Iowa as a freshman. Before leaving the dealership, they graciously let me have a little chat with them… So you bought a car at Runde’s today? Yes we bought a silver Hyundai Accent. How do you like it? Randy: So far so good.  It’s a manual so I have to teach her how to drive it a bit more. Tiffany: I tried to drive it a little bit and it seemed good. So I hear you [...]

Charles Waser is a World War II veteran who visited Runde Auto Group today.  He was a flying mechanic for the U.S. Air Force where he put in twenty-one years of service for our country before retiring.  We are very appreciative of the commitment Charles made to his country over the years.  In fact, the pieces of shrapnel in the abdomen of this honorable war veteran still serve as a reminder of everything that he’s been through. Who finds a gold ring in a car? Al Kloft (Mr. Waser’s salesmen) did just that as he was told by Charles Waser before he traded in his vehicle that he had lost his diamond gold ring quite some time ago. After looking and finding the ring on the floor of Mr. Waser’s old car, Al [...]

The 5th annual Vincentric Best Value in America™ awards were recently held and General Motors proved to be to be the star of the show as ten of its vehicles earned Vincentric’s top honors. “Vincentric provides data, knowledge, and insight to the automotive industry by identifying and applying the many aspects of automotive value. Using VinbaseTM, its comprehensive, proprietary cost-of-ownership database, the company measures and analyzes the overall cost of owning and operating vehicles and its impact on the value provided to buyers. Vincentric data is used by organizations such as Cars.com, Chevrolet, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Volkswagen, Ford Motor Co., Business Fleet Magazine, Audi of America and Fleet-Central.com as a means of providing automotive insight to their clientele. Vincentric, LLC, is a privately held automotive data compilation and analysis firm headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.” The table below shows some vehicles we carry that received awards:   Vincentric Names Models with Best Value   [...]

What is a Runde Monkey you ask?  Runde Auto Group has given out little stuffed Runde monkeys over the years to kids who are with their parents as they visit the dealership for service or when they’re purchasing a new vehicle.  The Runde Monkeys are normally outfitted with a small Runde bandana. The original band of Runde give-away stuffed “Monkey with Bandana” toys seemed dazed and confused today as a replacement model arrived on the scene. It seems that “Plain White T stuffed Monkey with Logo” toy will be taking their place as the first shipment came in. It’s always tough getting older, but it’s even more difficult to accept getting replaced by someone with less on-the-job experience. [...]

Who likes to be pushed around and forced into something they don’t like or want? You could try to convince me that Coke is better than Pepsi and yellow is a better color than blue – but I’m not going to believe it, no matter how convincing you are. I know what I like a little better than anyone else knows my preferences. So trying to tell me that right is left and Girl Scout cookies don’t taste awesome with a cool glass of milk is not going to get you anywhere. A dealership should know the same thing – that they cannot force you into buying something you don’t want or need. The video below shows a common stereotype of salesmen:   Unlike the salesman in this video, at Runde Auto Group we believe that our customers are informed enough to be able to decide for themselves what they want (with the possible [...]

Below is a customer testimonial that was sent to our Runde Buick store from the Persons family from La Farge, Wisconsin. They recently purchased a Buick LeSabre Ltd from Runde’s and they after they returned home, they wrote a letter to our owners to express their gratitude and to let everyone know about the wonderful experience they had at our dealership. To the owner of Runde Auto Group:   On Thursday, March 19th at 4:30 p.m. we were near Boscobel, WI on our way to Cuba City.  We were driving our Buick LeSabre and started noticing that we were having some problems.  By the time we reached Platteville, we weren’t sure if we could make it to Cuba City, but decided to try and did make it.  Our next problem was that at 6:30 the next morning, we were leaving for [...]

So Lori Schoenberger, I’m told you’re the service manager here at the Runde PreDriven store … please tell me exactly what you do here over the course of a normal day. Pretty much everything? Parts coordinator, warranty administrator, service advisor… psychiatrist — isn’t that the one who helps people with their problems? Yea… psychiatrist, or shrink? Yea, part time shrink and… umm… yep. Sounds like you do pretty much everything. How long have you worked at Runde’s? Since 2001, almost eight years. How has the ride been for ya? Great. I used to work at Runde Chevrolet in East Dubuque as a title clerk but then I transferred up here three or four years ago. Are you originally from the area? Yep, I’ve lived in the Dubuque area all my life. What do you like to do outside of work? Chase around my grandchildren, work on my yard, the occasional boat ride, and [...]

East Dubuque is having an Independence Day Celebration on Sunday, June 28th from 1pm ’til dusk. Runde’s is very excited that we are sponsoring and donating to this event but we are even more excited to go to it. We were so anxious for the event that we decided to kidnap Casey Klein, board member of the East Dubuque Business and Tourism Group, in order to gain more information about the event. So raise your hand if you don’t like to have fun. Those of you who raised your hand can stop reading this post now, thank you for your time. For the remaining fun-loving individuals still here, listen up.   So Casey, can you describe for me what the Old Fashioned [...]

I met one of the nicest couples today. James and Janis Zubler from Warren Illinois came in and wound up purchasing a late model SUV from Runde Chevrolet.  They were nice enough to share their Runde experience as well as some of their life experiences with me before they left the building. What vehicle did you buy? A GMC Envoy, it’s a smooth ride. What led you to Runde’s instead of other dealerships? We heard good reports: easy to deal with, kept hearing we could get a good deal and our neighbors suggested it. Our neighbor was here less than a year ago and he bought two vehicles: a Chevy Impala and a Chevy S-10 Pickup at the same time. He liked buying from here a lot and suggested it. So your salesman today was Al Kloft, right? What did you think of him? First time we met him. We liked [...]

Recently Ford had quality studies performed by the 3rd party RDA Group that confirmed what we’ve always known … that Ford builds top-notch vehicles.  According to the results, Ford is even with Toyota in initial quality tests and they passed up Honda by a significant leap. The results show that in the first quarter of 2009, problems-per-vehicle dropped by 5% to compete head-to-head with Toyota and beating Honda. The latest GQRS survey measured 2009 model year vehicle initial quality in the number of “things gone wrong,” and customer satisfaction within the first three months of ownership. The following is a list of vehicles that were used in the tests and what was tested for each vehicle. • Ford Mustang- initial quality/customer satisfaction for sports cars • Ford Taurus [...]

Where’s the best place to buy a family car in the Dubuque area?  If you said Runde Auto Group, then you’d be in the same boat as the Brosnahan’s. Every once in awhile you meet someone that can pick you up and make the rest of the day great. The Brosnahan family is consists of these kind of people. Needless to say, they were a joy to interview and an even greater joy to have as a customer. What led you to Runde’s today? Originally my husband, Michael, was shopping for used vehicles in Dubuque and came in to look at some trucks. But we thought about it and we have a Chevy Tahoe that is coming up on its lease [...]

Michael Steiner from Potosi Wisconsin is one of the nicest college students I have ever had the privilege of getting to know. Recently, Michael sat down with me for a quick interview so that any wide web surfers like you could get to know him a little. Alright Michael, so why don’t you start by telling us what brought you to Runde’s today? I bought a Ford Focus. What led you to that car? Mine kind of went out on me. The price was right and the miles are right for the Focus.  It’s a good car. What are you going to use the car for? Pretty much going back and forth from school to work. Why did you look to Runde’s instead of other dealerships? A couple days ago I drove through all the lots in Dubuque and Lancaster, WI.   Turned out that Runde’s had a couple of cars that caught my [...]

Today I had the privilege of getting to know Mike and Traci Hernandez from Dyersville, IA who purchased a vehicle from Runde’s today as I sat down for an interview with them. This fun family had a lot character so they fit in perfectly at our fun and active dealership. What did you guys come to Runde’s today for? For the purchase of a vehicle. The used Saturn Vue. How was your experience at Runde’s? It was one of the few times I had to buy a car in my life so I don’t have much to compare it to. It was good, no problems. Your sales-person was Al Kloft, what you think of Al? He likes to talk! He’s a pretty good guy, we like him. He’s always eager to please. So, what led you to Runde’s in the first place?

Need a part? Jason Keane in our Parts Department has got you covered. Jason, one of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet.  And he was in my sights on my way into work this morning, so I asked if he would sit down for a quick interview so we could get to know him a little better. What do you do here at Runde’s? I work in the parts department at the parts counter. I help receive the parts and ship them out as well as ordering. If someone needs a part I will find it for them. How long have you worked here? Just over a year now, I started at the end of December. Are you originally from the area? I’m originally from Bellevue, IA but then we moved to Dyersville.  We’ve been there for just under a year now … we found a nice house there. What’s your most memorable [...]

The Cortes family recently stopped into Runde’s and bought a GMC Acadia. They were kind enough to sit down with me for a quick interview explaining their experience at Runde’s. What brought you to Runde’s? We were interested in the GMC Acadia we saw advertised. How was the test drive? It drove great;  the GMC Acadia is a very nice looking vehicle. Al was your salesman … what did you think of him? He’s a good man, a nice guy, very helpful. Daughter: “A bad meanie boy – just kidding!” How would you guys rank Runde’s on a Scale of 1-10? Probably a high eight. What do you plan on doing with the new GMC Acadia? Travel and have fun. It’s an SUV – is it for storage at all? No, pretty much just for traveling – it’s bigger than our current car so if we needed to, we could use it for some storage. [...]

Keith Klein came in today to buy a vehicle. Before he left he was kind enough to let us interview him without any sort of bribery, thievery, or trickery. To our amazement, we sat down and got to know him a little better. What brought you to Runde’s today? Bought a car for my daughter – a Chevy Cavalier.  Runde’s has always been a good place to buy a vehicle. Is it for school? Yea, back and forth – school and work. She works 15 miles away, up in the country, so it’s nice for her to have her own transportation. Did she want the car or was it more of a “dad” decision? Well, she was looking at a bunch [...]