Seriously, If you don’t absolutely fall in love with the 2010 Camaro after watching the video below, then there has got to be something wrong with you.  What a gorgeous car!   Chevrolet’s engineers and designers really did their homework when they were creating this black beauty and it’s finally here after many years of anticipation and it’s available to the next lucky person who takes a test drive in it. Call our Chevy sales staff today to set up an appointment to check it our in person.    

Our good friend, Casey Klein from the East Dubuque Business and Tourism Council, sent us a nice letter the other day thanking us for our coverage of the upcoming party in East Dubuque – a.k.a. the Independence Day Celebration. Casey wrote: “On Behalf of the East Dubuque Business and Tourism Council, thank you for your generous support and patronage of the Old Fashioned Independence Day Celebration. You created an extremely informative and helpful post on the Runde Auto Group blog! Thank you for making the East Dubuque Business & Tourism Council look good! All your efforts are greatly appreciated. As we get closer to the event, if you or your staff have any questions please don’t hesitate to call or e-mail. Please join us on Sunday, June 28th. Thank you [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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   [...]

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 [...]

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?

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 [...]

Että on siistiä هذا هو بارد  Sehr toll Maravilloso что это здорово C’est magnifique That’s cool … Whatever language you speak, you’ll agree that the 2009 Suzuki Equator is “cool”.     Runde Auto Group has a lot of customers who would like to drive a truck so they can have it handy when they need to haul cargo like tree trimmings or landscaping materials, but a lot of people don’t want to drive a full-size truck and they certainly don’t want to pay for the gas to fill up the tank of a full size truck.  That’s where the Suzuki Equator comes in.  This is a mid-sized truck that is a lot more fuel efficient than a full-size truck (say something like a Ford F-150 or a Ram truck). To get one, or to learn more about how cool the Equator is call us, toll free at 800-947-8633.  The Suzuki [...]

Today I sat down with Carmen Grawe, from Manchester, Iowa who recently bought a used truck from us. She was in the Dubuque area visiting her sister and she was kind enough to stop by the Runde Chevrolet dealership and take some time to tell us about her family, her life, her experience at Runde’s and anything else she wanted to share.   Hey Carmen, thanks for taking some time out today for the interview! So I hear you bought a vehicle from Runde’s recently, what did you end up buying? We bought a very nice used truck – it’s a blue granite Chevy Silverado 1500 from the Manchester store. Oh, so you bought the vehicle from our Ford store, did they have the Chevy vehicle shipped up to [...]

Some ideas are bound to become something great. Case-in-point – the Chevrolet Spark. The vehicle design was based on the Chevrolet Beat “concept car” which was voted most popular in comparison to three other “mini” cars. The car will come with a choice of 1 or 1.2-liter four-cylinder engine. It has a wheelbase of slightly over 93 inches and the vehicle measures 143 inches in length. Smaller than most “mini” cars out there, including the Honda Fit. Safety features will vary but will be expected to include: anti-lock brakes, front and side-air bags, as well as electronic stability control. The Chevrolet Spark will save you some green as the expected 47 miles-per-gallon is one of the best in the industry. I’m personally excited for the vehicle – it looks sleek, seems [...]

The Dubuque Art Center was making good use of the Runde service truck this week. I got a chance to do a question-answer session with Jordan DeGree, founder of the Dubuque Art Center, on his way out of the dealership with our community support vehicle. So Jordan, you are taking the Community support vehicle today, what are you planning on doing with it? Well, the Dubuque Art Center is moving into a new location – the first floor of the Platinum building at 137 Main street. As an art center, we have a lot of rather large equipment like pottery wheels, furniture, shelving… etc. — so having a large vehicle makes that move a whole  lot easier.

What are Baskets Of Care?  Well in order to understand that, you’ll first need some background information about Dubuque’s very own Maria House. It’s almost time to decorate those eggs and indulge in candy – Easter is approaching quickly (April 12th) and some people may not get the opportunity to celebrate the holiday.  That’s why organizations like Maria House here in Dubuque, Iowa are starting to gather materials to build baskets.  The baskets are intended for families who receive aid from Maria House so that everyone can celebrate Easter and have fun during the Easter holiday. Sherry McDonell who has been a member of Maria House since before it opened explained to us the way the organization works.  Sherry, who “absolutely loves working for Maria [...]

Bill Brosnahan, president and tournament director of the Walleye Anglers Trail, stopped by the Runde PreDriven Store near Dubuque today to talk fishing and to allow me to gain a better understanding of what’s W.A.T. Hello Bill, so I hear you have a big fishing event coming up, care to explain it a bit? Oh sure, the tournament circuit has been in existence since 1999. Now, there are four annual Walleye tournaments held on the Mississippi river … usually stretching from Genoa, WI to Albany, IL. How many people participate in the event? There are 35 teams as of today, it will probably get up to 40 teams before the Genoa tournament which takes place April 5th. Teams consist of two people, usually partners, friends, or father and son. The competitors can fish in three different pools in each area we go to.  

We stopped in at our Runde PreDriven Store in Hazel Green today and had the nice opportunity to meet and do a customer interview Rick, Kylie and Ty Loeffelholz from Dubuque, Iowa. They had stopped in to sign papers for their new ride. They were surprised at the amount of questions we threw at them, but they seemed to have no problem juggling the questions while keeping their excitement under wraps as they waited to drive away in their new vehicle. What kind of vehicle did you buy? A Kia Sedona minivan. What’s the best thing about your new ride? All the space! We traded in a Chevy Cavalier for the van. That’s definitely an improvement in the amount of interior space. Will you give your new van a name? [...]

Dave Hoekstra drove from Chicago to the Dubuque area today to pick up his new truck at Runde Auto Group.  So I hear that you came from Chicago to be here today, how was the ride up here? It was good, left early enough – around 6,  it was quiet. Are you from Chicago? Well yea, just one town west of Chicago. How did you find Runde? After looking around for awhile I found Runde through AutoTrader. What were you looking for? I spotted the Chevy Silverado 1500 Crew Cab so I called and Al Kloft of Runde PreDriven answered the phone. He was very nice and helped me throughout the whole process. That’s great to hear! So where in Chicago are [...]

Saint Patricks day is today.  A day of celebration and green… a whole lot of green. Even Chicago dyes it’s river green with over 40lbs of food dye today!  But have you ever wondered what the holiday is actually all about? It’s not just an excuse to go out to the “pubs” and toast the great Saint until you are passed out on the floor. No, in-fact, St. Patrick’s day has more to it than you probably know. Isn’t it great that the Irish have a great Irish person to celebrate?  Huh, what’s that? St. Patrick isn’t Irish? Are you nuts!? Actually, St. Patrick was born in Britain during the 5th century. Not as Patrick, mind you, but as Maewyn Succat. He was kidnapped by Irish marauders at the [...]