For more than 90 years Runde’s has been committed to providing a great experience for our sales customers and that’s part of the reason why Runde’s has had such a large number of repeat customers over the years. We are extremely proud of our sales staff at Runde Auto Group and we always encourage customers to share their experiences with us. We take all comments and suggestions seriously so please contact us to let us know about your experience here and please read about the experiences of other recent Runde customers below. Be sure to contact us if you have any questions. We can be contacted at 866-735-5200.   This is the second Avalanche I have purchased from Runde’s and can see [...]

One of the Runde Mascot Monkeys escaped and turned up at the Orange Bowl in Miami last night just in time to see the Iowa Hawkeyes football team finish up their 11-2 season by beating Georgia Tech 24-14.  He flew back today and described the game to all of us who caught the game on television.  Don’t worry Wisconsin and Illini football fans — you’ll have another shot at the Hawks next fall!!!  

Marty Frank is first and foremost a Cubs fan.  He’s also one of the truly dedicated worker who spends his days prepping and cleaning all of the new vehicles that drive off the Runde Chevrolet lot here in East Dubuque. We interrupted Marty’s work for a few minutes to have him answer a couple of our questions. RAC: What do you do here at Runde’s?   MF: I work in the wash rack cleaning up all of the new cars, keeping Lenny out of trouble, and trying to convert him to being a Cubs fan. How long have you worked here? Three years and still going. What is your favorite part about working here? Any time they bring in pizza for us or put together potluck dinners and that kind of stuff, the food is just so good. Are you originally from the area? Yeah, but I moved here from Santa Cruz, CA when I [...]

John Riley, who manages our Chevy Sales Department, received the following email message from the husband of Kathie Thor this week.  Hi John: Here’s a few photos for your scrap book. Thanks for all your help with Kathie’s Christmas Surprise. She had no idea I had made a deal with you for a new vehicle. There was a lot of excitement at the Thor household Christmas morning. Thanks again, Randy Randy Thor of Cuba City, WI surprised his better half, Kathie Thor, with a sophisticated new set of wheels.  He grabbed some quick photos of Kathie beside her new ride (my guess is that he didn’t have to ask her to smile).  Kathie was completely caught off guard by the new Chevy Equinox that was waiting for her at home and the Thor’s had a very Merry X-Mas.  [...]

Below are videos that document a horrible car crash involving a pregnant woman who is very lucky to be alive today.  If you need more examples there are several other videos you can look up. The point is simple: pregnant women get into accidents too.  It’s something that we don’t really want to hear about, but it happens.  In 2008, over 27,000 pregnant women were killed in automobile accidents. In fact, statistics show that automobile accidents are the largest cause of pregnant fatalities. What is more terrifying than thinking of your unborn baby going through an accident? As far as safety goes, the major focus has always been on infant safety and child seats while the specific safety needs of expecting mothers was perhaps overlooked a bit. That is starting to change, however, as the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM), a group of 11 car companies including GM, Ford and Chrysler, has recently taken interest [...]

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!!!

We would like to end our Raising awareness series with Hillcrest Family Services. This versatile non-profit organization has many different departments.  The various branches of Hillcrest are divided by age groups, gender, and specific needs of the children.  Hillcrest has helped countless kids as they mature into outstanding individuals. However, there is always a need for volunteers, especially in the role of a big brother big sister to one of the kids. If you would like to help out the kids please read on to learn more and to see how to volunteer. Hillcrest Family Services John Bellini, director of residential education, spoke with us about how Hillcrest helps youth grasp a rich and successful education.

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!

Today we’ll try to provide readers with some tips after an accident or what to do after a car accident has occurred. It’s something we all fear on the road: getting into an accident. We look for signs of potentially dangerous situations and try to dodge them and avoid injury to ourselves and the people around us. During winter driving it’s on our minds a bit more: “what if I slide and hit something” or “uh-o, I don’t think my car is going to make it up this hill… what if I start slipping backwards…” As much as you try to be a cautious driver, sometimes it’s impossible to avoid an accident. Regardless of whether: your car skidded on ice, or you were text messaging and didn’t see that truck in-front of you, or [...]

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 [...]

Over the last couple of weeks Runde’s had a Sesame Street contest called “Seek and Find” running in the Telegraph Herald. The contest recently ended and some kids are going home as happy as can be with free tickets to Sesame Street Live! We gave out a total of 8 free tickets for some lucky children to see the show with their families. In addition to the free tickets, Runde’s gave away $3.00 off coupons at all four Runde locations. Each of our four locations had contest winners, we had two great kids come in for the tickets at our Chevrolet store:   Catherine from Dubuque was the first lucky winner who came in to claim her tickets. Who’s your favorite character Catherine? (whispers) Elmo.     Emily and her younger brother Michael were the next Sesame Street fans to stroll through our front doors that day.  We’d like to [...]

The 2010 Ford Raptor was build for the true off-road enthusiast.  Check out this video that shows the dynamic capabilities of the truck.  Jamal Hameedi, chief engineer of the Ford SVT comments on the truck’s ability to jump (the truck was actually built to jump) and he also touches on the trucks Hill Descent Mode.   Runde Auto Group’s customer, Brian Hauber, took this footage of his new 2010 Ford Raptor going down a hill in the Hill Descent Mode. I think it’s safe to say that he loves his new Raptor so far.     If you’d like to check out a new Ford truck in person, please give our sales staff at our Ford store a call at 888-927-2630. If you’d like to check out our entire inventory, go to www.RundeAutoGroup.com — Or call us at 866-735-5200.

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 [...]

We’re talking about Sesame Street at Runde Auto Group today. “Sunny day – Sweepin’ the clouds away,  On my way to where the air is sweet.  Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street… “Sure, it’s right across the Julien Dubuque bridge!  Assuming your coming from Dubuque, just take the first right after you get off the bridge, take a right at the stop sign then go until you see Runde Chevrolet  to your left and you are there – where all the happy people meet. Runde’s has been all about Sesame Street – especially recently. The production 123 Sesame Street Live is coming to the Five Flags Center in Dubuque, IA. November 24th and 25th and Runde’s is supporting the production along with the Telegraph Herald. To get in the atmosphere of Sesame Street and to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, I went around our Chevrolet store to see who everyone’s favorite [...]

Please please please do not consider bringing this anywhere near the Tri-State area. You are more than welcome to pimp out your ride how you see fit, but I enjoy sleeping in instead of waking up to this “alarm clock” WHOO WHOO.         I love how they filmed the car going on the wrong side of the road then proceeding to blaze through a stop sign… And in case you needed more here is the whistle tip Whoo Whoo remix video:    

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.  [...]

Who didn’t like to color as a kid?  Did you ever enter a coloring contest or send a drawing into Highlights magazine? Getting those books of pre-made art for you to fill in with color between the lines (or, at least in my case, outside of the lines) was awesome. Meet your new coloring book – the Chevy Volt, once released, will come in this nice grayish-blue with a hint of greenish color… “Wait, what’s the  color called” you might be asking yourself? Well, my friend, that is entirely up to you… or someone else that thought of a cooler name than you. While the coloring may have already been done, it’s up to you to label the color with a name. A different kind of coloring contest if you will … GM is offering you a trip to drive the one of the first Volts just for giving a name to the color of the Volt above. But that [...]

Keila Walton is someone who never ran away from confrontation or racism. Equality has always been important here at Runde’s. Why should someone be judged by how they look or what sex they are? The way we look at it:  What really matters most about a person is what’s in their mind and what’s in their heart.  At Runde Auto Group, the only color that matters is the color of the vehicle a customer wants. It’s good to see one of our parent corporations feel the same way.  This short video definitely shows how it’s GM’s policy to hire the most qualified applicant.  You go GM!!!  Keila Walton is the lady featured in the video and you can check out her qualifications on Linked In.      

Austin Arensdorff lives about 3-4 minutes away from our PreDriven store where he works in the Reconditioning Department.  He took a little time out to do a quick interview with us and who would have thought that an epic battle was about to erupt at our reconditioning department in Hazel Green? Austin… like Austin Powers, Austin Texas or ostentatious? Uh, Austin Powers I guess?   Groovy baby. If you could be Mike Meyers for a day, what would you do? Spend his money.   Grrrr baby, VERY grrrrrrr.   So what do you do around Runde’s? I buff cars and do the detail work. Yeah baby!  How long have you worked here? Two and a half years. Shagadellic!!  What would you say is [...]

Continuously reading in the newspaper about the mayor of New York City presenting someone with the Key to the City made Mark Malkoff start to wonder, “What exactly does someone have to do to be presented with one of these keys?” Presenting the Key to the City is a tradition that goes back hundreds of years to medieval times … back in the days where a city would be surrounded by walls and a locked gate.  Presenting the key to the city to someone was a display of complete trust and it meant that the recipient of the key could come and go as he/she pleased. Nowadays, it’s more of a symbolic thing and keys that are presented to people don’t actually open anything … bummer, eh? The guy in the video (Mark Malkoff) below convinced Ford Motor Co. to lend him a Ford Fusion to go on a mission to collect as many keys to various cities as possible… not [...]

The Ford Couple goes on a major road trip and brings their wedding to everyone who would’ve normally come to their wedding.  Ladies, ever since we were little girls we have been imagining our wedding… well at least most of us did. The pretty wedding dress, the friends, the atmosphere… it’s our perfect day. Some of us get to live out the dream and have that perfect wedding, some don’t go quite as well as planned, and others do things… well… a bit different. Introducing Chris Hodges and Jamie Case (aka The Ford Couple). These two lovebirds don’t follow the “norm” so to say. Instead of opting-in for a big fancy wedding, they decided to borrow a Ford Fusion (supplied by Ford) and hit the road to see 250 people that they [...]

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 [...]

If you have seen the “Will It Blend” series, you know that it is absolutely awesome. The host puts his blender to the test by trying to blend some pretty ridiculous things. Marbles, glow sticks, an I-pod, a Ford Fiesta… Huh?  What was that last one you’re asking yourself?    How the heck is that even possible? Well, I’d love to explain it all, but I simply cannot. You’ll just have to watch the episode and find out if the Ford Fiesta blends or not.  Will it blend?  America wants to know.   Gotta  love the cheesy smile and old western style horses in the window.