Customers often come in after Christmas and ask our Runde Chevrolet Sales Staff how their Christmas celebration was or what they did during the holidays.  Well you don’t have to wonder what our Salesmen did this year.  This year our sales staff put in a lot of extra rehearsal hours during the holidays trying to get this Christmas dance just right and we shot this video on location up at the North Pole.   We hope everyone out there has a safe & happy holiday season!!!

It’s that time of year again … time to celebrate the season and spread the holiday spirit.  Every once in a while I find myself wanting to give more to those who need it. Often there are times when I don’t know where to begin in terms of which charity organization to give my donations to. This year, however, we got the chance to interview Charlie Becker, Director of Camp Courageous in Monticello, IA. After the interview I found that I really appreciate what the camp does and wanted to help. The camp runs on donations, with no government funding, no formal sponsorship and no one paid to raise money for the camp. They run through the generosity of donations given by people and companies. Please view the video below [...]

Happy Holidays  Note: No one at Runde Auto Group was harmed during the making of this video.  Hopefully your ears won’t be harmed by our “not-so-harmonious” voices as you view it. Our intention is merely to wish you a happy holidays in hopes that this holiday season will be your best one yet!

Here’s what some recent customers of Runde Auto Group has to say about their experiences at Runde Auto Group – a dealership located near Dubuque. We had shopped around a lot for a vehicle.  Of all the dealerships we visited, Runde Chevrolet treated us the best and worked the hardest for us.  I have already recommended this dealership to other people.  Runde was a very pleasant experience for purchasing a car. The whole time was very professional, caring and easy people to work with through the whole process. Steve Kness – Pearl City, IL   First class operation.  Enjoy doing business with them in all departments. John Roeder – Roeder Implement Inc. – Dubuque, IA    I am very pleased with my purchase from Runde Chevrolet. Gary Bonnet [...]

Mike Lawler worked for Runde’s full-time while he went to East Dubuque high school.  After graduating, Mike went off to college, but he still comes back to work here when he comes back home.  While Mike was here for the Thanksgiving weekend, we took a few minutes to chat with him and find out what college life is like. RAC: Where are you going to college? ML: Western Illinois University — It’s about two and a half hours away. RAC: And do you have your own car? ML: Yeah, a 2000 Cavalier Z24. RAC: Nice.  Aluminum wheels?  Air Conditioning?  Cruise Control? ML: Yes sir. RAC: Sounds like a great car!  Do you like college so far? You’re going to the school in Macomb, IL right? ML: Yeah the school’s nice.  Macomb’s a smaller town – I think it’s about 20,000 people.   RAC: Runde’s sells a lot of vehicles to people from Macomb.  Do you [...]

Happy Thanksgiving From Runde Auto Group! It’s that time of year again where we give thanks… thanks to the people we love, thanks for all of the nice things we have in life, and thanks to the ones who guided our lives in the right direction. (I remember in the fourth grade at St. Anthony elementary school in Dubuque, Tim Earle and I were fighting on the playground during recess — probably over who got to be quaterback next or something like that…  Our teacher, Mrs. Jane Stanton, had witnessed this and when we came back inside — she made us both stand up in from of the whole class and hug each other.  Sounds weird to be thankful for a teacher who used public humiliation as a deterrent, but I went to school with Tim for 12 years and I don’t [...]

For those of you who think that social media is just a fad that will disappear in the years to come, well … uhhh … you might have another thing coming.  In the car business you often get a mixture of old school thought vs. new school.   Yesterday, this really seemed really apparent when we asked one of our senior salesmen to help provide us with a customer of his that we could interview for the blog.  His response was: “No.  Actually, I can’t wait ’til that thing (the blog) goes away.”  In the past couple years, social media has become what it is and at Runde’s we have tried to embrace it for the positive.  We run a good business and word of mouth has always been one of the cheapest and best forms of advertising.  So we figure, we’ll interview customers and ask them what they thought of their experience at Runde’s.  It’s [...]

Aside from the 1965 Shelby Mustang GT350 and the very first 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 ever made, Jay Leno has lots of toys that do things that you probably never even thought were possible … especially his new 3D scanner. What if I told you that I could clone almost any object under the size of about a yard? Better yet, what if I told you that I could, without any sort of assembly, make the cloned object fully functional as soon as I cloned it? “Bust out the straight-jacket and lock him away?” you say?  Well, FYI, all of this is possible and is actually happening at Jay Leno’s garage. Jay has this nifty little scanner called a Faro 3D Scanner which will scan an object based on thousands of points and create a 3D model of it on your computer. From there, the Dimension 3D Printer takes the image data given to it by the scan [...]

So you are planning a two-week visit to your mom’s house this winter and she has welcomed you to bring your pet for the visit? Great! Mom lives 5 hours away, a no-sweat trip for most, and your family is all excited for it. Your 6-year-old son can’t wait to sink his original baby teeth into Grandma Betsy’s world-famous chocolate chip cookies, yum! But what about Peaches, your Boxer puppy? This is your first long trip with him coming along and you are worried about how to go about the whole process.  Have you thought about traveling with pets? Well, let us help get you, your family, and Peaches already for the excursion. Some folks might say consult your vet before taking your pet on a trip. I’d just say make sure that you remember to take along plenty [...]

We were outside and Carl got out of his old truck… Unlike most people, however, Carl didn’t go running to his New Ride from Runde Chevrolet in excitement. Instead Carl slowly got out of the driver’s door and gave the truck a sentimental final farewell before heading into the Runde Chevrolet building to finish up the paperwork. I was particularly busy before the interview with Carl Denlinger who was with his mother, Louise Denlinger (both born and raised south of Dubuque) but our chat seemed to put me in a great mood, read on to find see why. Hey guys, while your salesman, finishes up the transaction would you mind sharing your experience at Runde’s with the rest of the world? Sure… and [...]

The twenty-sixth of October with kids roaming all over. Main Street was all cluttered with folk. Coming down the street was a royal fleet and the diesel was-a-blowing smoke. Yeah them smokies were holding back the traffic. They even had a cop on a bike. Those Jacksons were-a-dancing for quite a spell. And they were showing an abundance of heart. “Cause we gotta great big convoy, rocking through the night. Yeah we gotta great big convoy, ain’t she a beautiful sight? Come on an’ join our convoy, ain’t nothing gonna git in our way. We’re gonna roll this trucking convoy, cross the USA. Convoy.” Well that’s what it seemed like.  Ok.  [...]

Joe Hesselman, who used to be one of Runde’s parts guys in his younger days, obliged us by taking part in a quick Q & A session when he used to work for Runde’s.  Joe is one of the people that says “good morning” every morning to anyone who walks by.  He is just a very polite and courteous individual. In hopes of getting a better understanding of this sincere and noble person, we sat down and had a nice chat. What do you do here at Runde’s? I am a consultant for the parts department. What does your job entail? I get all the parts for the walk-in customers and the technicians. What do you like about your job? Uh… everything!  It’s pretty laid back here.

Saw this today and thought I’d post it — it’s cute.  Just Madonna out for a daily drive with Clive Owen.   Granted I was never really much of a Madonna fan anyway so when I saw this, I was like Oh, ok.  I mean I like the songs and she has stayed on top of the music industry for a long time so she does command and deserve respect.  But I’m not so sure that she still deserves all the hype she gets.   I’d take Cyndi Lauper or Tori Amos any day of the month over Madonna.  She was just never at the top of my a-list … my apologies to any Material Girls out there who may be offended.  Please feel free to leave a comment if I touched a sore nerve or upset the Zen balance in your material world — just don’t remain Silent After all These Years — let it out, because [...]

Time Magazine recently published the top 10 most exciting vehicles of the year. Making the list are three vehicle makes that Runde’s offers. Here are the three along with pictures and what Time had to say about them: 1. The Suzuki Kizashi What Time Magazine has to say: “Known for small cars and SUVs, Suzuki makes its first foray into the heart of the U.S. market with the midsize Kizashi sedan. The exterior styling is fresh, and the interior packs cool features such as sporty seats and a nifty instrument cluster that give the car character. The Kizashi’s key asset could be its power train, which includes a new 4-cylinder aluminum engine that can be matched up to either a six-speed manual transmission or a continuously variable automatic transmission. Kizashi won’t go on sale until late fall, and the price is expected to be in the low-$20,000 range. Toyota and Honda better look over [...]

Have you ever seen a kohlrabi so large that you had to vocally exclaim “Holy kohlrabi”? We had an interesting gift given to us Friday by Don Steinhoff – driver for Runde’s. Coming in to pick up a vehicle, Don shared with us a HUGE kohlrabi that he grew before he headed out. We were all amazed by how big this vegetable was, and even more surprising was how delicious it was! Don starts these from seed under a grow light and they plant about 45 of them each year. Don said they give about 42-43 away each year and Runde Chevrolet [...]

Tony and Sharon Lorenz from Galena, IL came into our Suzuki store today to do a few things.   They enjoyed the atmosphere and the way they were treated so much that they just had to share it with the world! (I did, in no way, shape, or form, pay Mr. or Ms. Lorenz to say any of what we’ll mentioned below… seriously…) Read on to see how the experience here at Runde’s was for these self-proclaimed “wicked people” from the East. What are you folks in for today? We came in to the Suzuki store to get the oil changed on our Suzuki SX4 and ended up buying a new Suzuki Grand Vitara. What will you be using the vehicle for? For traveling … we travel quite a bit. Where do you guys like to travel? We’ve been to Branson, MO, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Arkansas. If you could choose one place [...]

Here is just a sample of how a few recent customers perceive Runde Auto Group.  Check out these Customer Testimonials …   “All employees were very friendly and willing to help.  We were very much pleased with our experience with Runde.” John Mitchell Dubuque, IA   “I purchased a Chevy Colorado from Alan Kloft,  I’ve needed it repaired twice since the purchase.  Both times I have dealt with Pat Timmerman… All I can say about the sale and service experiences is AWESOME!  You guys are GREAT!  Thanks!”  Dave Fangman Dubuque, IA   “I’ve been buying trucks from you guys for eight or ten years.  I don’t do this very often but this is an exception. I just wanted to say that you guys went above and beyond the call of duty while servicing my truck. I had a truck that needed a scratch taken out. When I came in with it [...]

Before he zoomed off in his new vehicle, I got a chance to get to know Joe Hubanks a little. From the Dubuque area, Joe works at Lacoma Golf Course. Read ahead to see how Runde’s made him a free man… What brought you into Runde’s today? Basically, my car was starting to bite the dust and I wanted to get something new from a dealership. Instead of going out on the street or looking in the paper, I figured it would be more reliable to buy from a dealer so I looked at the Runde website.  I knew some people here and heard good things about Runde’s so I decided to bring my business here. What vehicle did you end up buying? I got a Suzuki Forenza sedan. Nice, I always liked those, great car at an amazing price. Yea, actually it was a really cool and convenient experience because the car was up at [...]

People, let’s face it, we have all gotten into purchasing something or another without fully understanding what we are buying or why we need to buy it. I went into a computer repair center last week to get my desktop computer looked at and I could have almost sworn that the person helping me was speaking a foreign language. He was saying stuff about “ram” and “mega bytes” and “Mozilla Firefox”… It sort of sounded like he was talking about a Japanese horror movie or something … what the heck??!!  In any case, I trusted that he knew what he was doing and ended up paying about $150.00 in repairs. He mentioned something about spyware when I went in to pick it [...]

Above is the official Ford NASCAR vehicle. Rolling out onto the 2010 season, the 2010 NASCAR Mustang will make its appearance as a vehicle that really looks nothing like the 2010 Mustang. The vehicle, although being officially credited as the NASCAR “2010 Ford Mustang,” is actually a stock NASCAR vehicle equipped with the Mustang’s logo, front-end details and name smothered all across the body. To me, it looks a little funky, but maybe that’s just me wanting to see more of the actual 2010 Mustang DNA. What do you think?  

Let’s face it the new Camaro Transformers Special Edition is going to be a hot, hot car that will be in high demand when it hits dealer lots … if you have seen the movie Transformers, you have admired the Chevy Camaro in it known as Bumblebee. Maybe you’ve seen the new Camaro in person, and although all of them are structured like the one in the movie, none of them quite look the same as that sleek yellow and black striped one from the movie, right? Well, now you can make Bumblebee yours as GM officially announced the 2010 Camaro Transformers Special Edition package. The $995 package includes the following: Autobot insignia fender badges and wheel caps An embroidered Autobot insignia on the center console Gloss-black rally stripes with Transformers logos [...]

This week I’d like to introduce you to Tim and Maryellen Engelke from Belmont Wisconsin.  Belmont is a town of about 1000 people that is situated in between Platteville and Mineral Point.  It is mainly a rural area, but the village of Belmont, itself, does offer some quaint local business and the residents are friendly people who are always willing to offer a helping hand to those in need … a good example of this is the Engelke family.  Tim Engleke is a is a farmer and his wife Maryellen runs a daycare from out of their farm. They brought with them their two bundles of joy: Christopher and Elsie who were very lively and fun to have around the dealership – a gust of fresh air, as [...]

Ford made a dream come true for some legally blind people as they were give the chance to be driving again thanks to a large open area and modern technology. You are the next big street racer. You get thrilled by the speed and feel of it all – going high speeds, feeling and hearing the motor sing to you as you treat it with all the gasoline your foot can put down. One day you wake up, and you can’t see anything. The doctors all tell you that you are blind from what appears to be some head trauma you experienced the other night. You lose your licence and can no longer drive. Suddenly, your world turns upside down, the things that you loved so dearly [...]

Have you ever tried jump starting a vehicle?  If not, then keep reading to find out how to do it.  The video below will give you a walk through on how to safely and successfully jump start a car or truck. You’re ready to go home from your best friend’s bridal shower in a city 200 miles away from you. It’s about 8pm and you figure that you should make it home before midnight.  You think, “Wow, I had tons of fun and it was great to see Callie again!”  You hop in the car and turn the key to your ignition. “rrrrrurrrr  rrrruuuurr??? putt putt fizzle butt”  You find your car is just not cooperating with you as it will not turn over. “Fantastic,”  you think to yourself,   “It’s only me and [...]

Who doesn’t have a soft spot for powerhouse cars or sports cars as they’re commonly referred to.  We all caught a laugh or two watching the Tonight Show with Jay Leno through the years. Most of us know that he has his own shop and is a vehicle enthusiast. Less of us know that he loves Corvette’s and that the lucky guy has the first ever made ZR1 Corvette. Out of all of the foreign and powerhouse cars Jay has, he always seems to praise Chevy and keeps commenting on how reliable and great they are. This guy really knows his stuff about the automotive industry, I was really impressed to hear him list off horse powers, features and specifics of different vehicles on the spot.     There you have it, from the man behind the laughs that knows his stuff: Corvette seems to be the way to go, and if you’d like [...]