We had the pleasure of getting a hold of Loras Link this week. Loras bought a vehicle from our Manchester Store recently and has been loving the vehicle. He was more than willing to share his pleasant experience with us. What brought you into Runde’s. One day we were just driving around and we’ve been kind of looking around for a new vehicle. While driving we saw an Acadia sitting in your your lot and decided to stop and look at it. The next day I inquired about it, then we went there and fell in love with it during our test drive and bought it. How did you like your salesperson? Oh he was great. Everyone was really good there. [...]
New customers Ronda and Todd VanDerJagt of Dubuque recently purchased a 2011 all-wheel-drive Chevy Equinox at our Chevrolet store in East Dubuque and they are lovin’ it so far. Here is a brief exchange that took place on Facebook yesterday between Ronda and Runde’s after she posted this photo of her and Todd in front of their new ride. Runde’s: Congrats on your purchase and thank you! We love the photo. You look great and your new ride looks great too !!! Ronda: Thanks so much to everyone at Runde’s! – I’m definitely lovin’ my new ride:) Runde’s: How was your salesperson? Ronda: He was awesome & fun to work with … no pressuring like some “other” dealerships. Will definitely send our [...]
We received the following letter from Ford Motor Co. recently regarding a Runde Ford technician, Dan Taylor, in light of his recent accomplishment. This is a very special certification that involves a great deal of time, study, hands-on-experience, dedication and commitment. By earning this status, Dan has definitely put himself in an elite group of service technicians and we are very proud of him. Dear Timothy Runde, It is our pleasure to inform you that, as of April, 2011, Dan Taylor, a Service Technician at your dealership, has made the following achievements in the 2011 Masters Program: Chassis Master Dan is achieving this status for the first time. Awards for this achievement include the Chassis Plaque, 2011 Ingot and 2011 Master Technician Magnet. Dan is one of 807 technicians in the Chicago Region who holds this status. Engine Master Dan is achieving this status for the first time. Awards [...]
Fast Five is definitely a movie to go see while it’s still in the theaters. The ticket price is well worth it and no other movie makes you want to go trick out your ride and find someone to street race after watching it. Synopsis: After spending too much time on the run, Dom Torreto (Vin Diesel) and O’Connor (Paul Walker) desire freedom and normal lives with their families. They decide to set up one more job that will give them this freedom, that is, if they can pull it off. Everyone from past jobs comes in to help out and they all play a specific part in the story. Before heading on over to the theater to watch this movie, I’d recommend that you catch up and watch the previous four Fast & Furious flicks (or at least #’s 1, 2 & 4 since #3 came out of sequence). That way, you’ll be able to easily recognize the [...]
How can you mention Michael Jordan and the Chevy Volt in the same sentence? Isn’t that basketball sacrilege? Well, let me explain. I was reading an article from CNN Money that was saying the new Chevy Volt didn’t rank as one of the top ten “greenest” cars in America. Now based on all that I have learned about the Volt so far, I found this very hard to believe. The Volt is primarily an electric car that can travel for about 40 miles on just the power produced from the lithium ion battery pack following a 10 hour overnight charge from a regular 110V outlet (or 4 hours from an installed Voltec 240V charger). I just don’t understand why the CNN Money article and other articles [...]
Go to the Gary’s Graffiti Nights Car Show and you will see people who share a passion for the classics glowing and having a great time as they share stories and chit chat with fellow enthusiasts. The show started back in the early 1980’s by a man named Gary Duster of Dubuque, IA. Gary is a classics fan who wanted to share his love of the classics with the Tri-State community. As of late, the show has moved to East Dubuque, IL where it seems to have found a perfect home. We got a hold of George Young, former owner of George & Dales restaurant and current Mayor of East Dubuque. With the help of his son and the support of the community, George gets things in order [...]
I remember watching the show “Hey Dude!” as a kid. It was a country life kind of show – riding around on horses, roping calves, tying all sorts of knots that would just leave me wrapped up if I attempted to try them. To me it was a different life, I was used to a city life, but the country activities I saw always interested me. What better way to satisfy these interests than to see the best of the best in our very own community compete in a rodeo, live!? The 8th Annual Wisconsin Regional High School Rodeo will gather kids from the 6th – 12th grade to compete in the rodeo which will be held at the Dubuque County Fairgrounds [...]
OnStar has been around since the beginning of this young century and it has definitely been a blessing to many and saved many lives. However up until now, people without OnStar had to upgrade their entire vehicle to be able to get the service and unfortunately not everyone can spend thousands of dollars to upgrade their vehicles. Well I was couch cruising on Sunday night and happened upon an episode of Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice and in this episode I learned that OnStar was getting ready to release a version of their product that could be installed on any vehicle and hence OnStar would be made available to everyone. The product comes in a box that includes a rear view mirrow with the familiar OnStar buttons and all the necessary hardware to hook [...]
Barb Brush and her long-term best friend, Roxanne Marston (both from Wisconsin), just happened to be going to the right quilting show at the right time. While these two inseparable friends were on their way to see expert weavers, quilters and sewers, Barb got an unexpected call from her husband who insisted that she stop over to Runde’s and take a look at a Lexus that might suit her, and boy did it ever. While here, she kept saying how it felt like family, so we did what families do – sat down, got to know her and chatted for a while… What brought you into Runde PreDriven today? Barb: A phone call. We were on our way to a quilt show and I got a phone call from my husband who knew I was looking for a car. He was looking online and found a car I might be interested so he called and said [...]
This beautiful car does not belong to us anymore — although we wish it did. We sold this car a few years back, but it still ranks as one of the most gorgeous cars we’ve ever had on our car lot. Please go to http://photobucket.com/1956_Bel_Air_Runde to check out more photos of the car.
Jordan Frakes & Lindsey Rossow from Iowa City visited the Runde used car dealership near Dubuque today to pick up Jordan’s new ride. He was forced to find a replacement for his previous car that was totaled after someone pulled out in from of him. Jordan and Lindsey are currently students at the University of Iowa and they kindly gave me a few minutes of their time before making the trek back to Iowa City. What Brought you into Runde’s? Jordan: I saw the car online at Cars.com and I liked what I saw so I called you guys up and scheduled a time to drive it and then we talked about the price for awhile. What car was it? Jordan: It was a 2006 Pontiac G6 [...]
Ralph and Jane Rollins were looking at Dubuque dealerships for their upcoming new vehicle purchase. They finally found the perfect one at a local Dubuque dealership. Both of these incredible people work at two different high schools in Dubuque. They were nice enough to sit down with me and share their experience at Runde Auto Group and a little bit about themselves. What brought you into Runde’s today? We found the vehicle we were looking for on the Cars.com website and it was listed at Runde’s. So we called in and got Al on the phone and now we are driving home with our new Durango. What did you think of your experience here? It was great. Al was very friendly, personable and accommodating. He’s very passionate about his job [...]
We have been keeping our eyes on the Decorah eagles here at Runde Auto Group over the past 6-8 weeks on the Eagle Cam in anticipation of the hatching of the Eagle eggs. Part of that waiting game came to a halt today as one of the three eggs hatched and a little baby Eagle worked his/her way into this world. I think this whole online Eagle video camera thing has caused more anticipation than that proverbial bottle of Heinz ketchup. But you just can’t shake an Eagle’s nest the way you’d skake a bottle of ketchup. They’re saying that over 100,000 people are now following the Decorah Eagles Eye view of the nest. People are watching it, emailing about it, texting others with Decorah eagles updates, blogging about it [...]
Buick’s most recent ad was derived from a poem called What will Matter… by Michael Josephson. Upon hearing the eloquent words, I was moved to look up the full poem and here it is below. If you haven’t heard it before, it’s an excellent read and perhaps a bit of an eye-opener to some. “Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else. Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed. Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away. It won’t matter [...]
Nate Bremmer is a police officer from Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin and he just rated Runde Auto Group a perfect five out of five stars. When he found the truck he was looking for online he couldn’t believe what a deal it was. He came down to our PreDriven store and bought his truck from Al Kloft in our sales department. He was thrilled with the deal and with the way he was treated to the extent that he wanted the world to know about it by doing this interview. What brought you into Runde’s today? I was actually looking online and found a great deal on a truck so I ended up inquiring about it through email and then got a response from Al shortly [...]
2011 officially marks the 100th year for Chevrolet and when you stop to think about it, 100 years of Chevrolet is quite a bit of time for any business to stay up and running. But boy, is it running smooth. Through the years Chevrolet has become a leader in the automotive industry and only shows signs of growing stronger. Lets take a look back to see how it all started. GM was started by automotive marketer William C. Durant in 1908. Through the years Durant took notice of the famous racer, Louis Chevrolet, as he set the land-speed record in 1905 for reaching 111 MPH in a special open race car. Durant hired Chevrolet to do big races and promotional drives for his company. Being cast [...]
Mankind has learned how to fly… this car is driving itself! Don’t throw out the “yep, crazy” card, yet, as Ford technology has transformed the most frustrating and feared part of Driver’s Ed into an every day driving a breeze. Parallel parking is forced to dethrone itself from the “champion of driving challenges” when facing the new Fords that come with Active Park Assist. Ford Park Assist is a hands free technology that uses an ultrasonic-based sensing system and electric power-assisted steering (EPAS) to position the vehicle for parallel parking, calculating the perfect steering angle and quickly steering the vehicle into a parking spot at the touch of a button. Here’s how you’ll be using it: You will activate [...]
I was walking past a computer here at Runde Chevrolet in East Dubuque the other day and saw something that really caught my eye. The computer screen was displaying a live feed of an eagle in a nest. I was a bit perplexed. We’re a car and truck dealer and here is a video of a bird on a screen so of course I had to ask the people around that monitor, “What’s up with the bird?” This was met with a response from my coworker who simply said, “mmm, Eagle Cam,” as he was munching on some crispy carrots during his lunch hour. You’ve “seen” them everywhere; The Seal of the President of the United States, on the back of [...]
Dave and Patricia Opperman are a hardworking couple from Wadena Iowa and they’re also fans of Chevrolet – Chevy trucks in particular. They took some time out of their hectic and always busy farm life to pick up a vehicle and do a little interview with me. How did you end up coming to Runde’s? I was on AutoTrader.com and found a nice used Chevy Silverado that looked good and decided to give it a try. I came to Runde’s and talked with Al and ended up buying it. On a scale of 1-10, what would you rate your experience here? Oh a 10, I loved the place there were no problems. How was Al Kloft, your salesman? He’s a very interesting guy, very good. [...]
At the 2011 Chicago Auto Show Suzuki took the Suzuki Kizashi and one of its ridiculous competitors and brought it for the crowd to physically and personally compare the two. It turned a lot of heads and had people wondering what the heck a ’70’s sofa was doing at an auto show? A sofa has never seen this much attention since the friend who said he’d “only-stay-for-a-week-and-would-just-bum-on-your-couch” and-ended-up-staying-for-a-year, scenario happened. The bad boy sofa was fully operational, and seemed to go pretty fast… for a sofa. Here’s some official specs (from Suzuki) the sofa offered to show off to curious inquisitors: “This 1970s-era sofa commissioned by American Suzuki retains its original synthetic trim finished in a fashionable tan and brown plaid motif. The sofa is complete with small tears and frayed stitching to meet Suzuki’s overall design intent. The sofa also features a variety of loose coins, cookie crumbs and pocket lint resting just beneath [...]
Recent customers from Epworth, Sharron and Merrill Wiskus, are not people who jump on a deal without a lot of thought and consideration. But when they saw the Envoy that had all the specifications they were looking for at an unbelievable price, they couldn’t help themselves. Sharron was in this morning to do a few touch up’s to the Envoy and while she was in she decided to have a nice chat with me about her experience at Runde’s. Hello Sharron, what brought you into Runde’s this morning? I bought a vehicle on Saturday and I brought it back just to get a couple more things done to it.
Chevy Customers from Sandwich, IL Purchase their new Silverado HD from Runde Chevrolet Chevy customers from Sandwich, IL Troy and April Hutson drove a long way this past week to come and buy their new truck from Runde Chevrolet. In the time between signing paperwork and starting out for home, they gave us a little extra time to ask some questions about their lives and about their recent experience at Runde’s. What kind of vehicle did you buy? We bought a new 2011 Silverado 2500 HD. You’re Chevy customers from Sandwich, IL right? How far is that from Runde Auto Group? It’s about 180 miles and it took us almost three hours to get here. Have you always lived in that area? Troy: I have. I was born in Sandwich, IL and pretty much lived there my whole life. April: I wasn’t born in Sandwich, but I’ve lived in that [...]
We recently interviewed Mike Hafeman and got to know that he’s very smart, and that he likes Pokemon and Mexican Rap music. After achieving a perfect score on his ACT, Mike is now ready to take on college. Because he works at Runde Auto Group, Mike was eligible to apply for the Great River Bend Community Foundation scholarship (a car dealer based scholarship). Needless to say, Mike won the top scholarship for his efforts academically and will be presented this award at the Iowa/Illinois Regional Auto Show. There was a total of $25,000 in scholarship funds to be divided between six college bound students. Mike Hafeman earned the maximum amount of $5,000 and the scholarship is considered the show’s finest [...]
You’ll soon see Nan Connolly driving around her Chevy Impala in East Dubuque. She is originally from Dubuque, but she recently built and moved into a house just outside of East Dubuque, IL. She came into Runde Chevy looking for a new Chevy to replace her vehicle. While she was here, she sat down and shared her experience with us. What brought you into Runde’s today? Probably advertising and I knew I wanted a Chevy when I was shopping. I was looking around and Runde’s seemed to have the best car prices. What vehicle did you end up going with? The Chevy Impala, I like it. My other car kind of gave up so I said “it’s time.” I [...]
Going green is the big thing as of recent, and for good reason. It’s about time that we stop ourselves, as a nation, point out that we waste too much and encourage earth friendly alternatives to live out our lives. A process that is encompassed in one word: Green. But what about those big ‘n bad manufacturing companies with large factories? They must be one of the most un-greenest things you’ve ever seen since the color Maroon, right? Well, it is true that SOME factories do produce lots of waste and pollute the air with lots of bad guys the ozone has a hard time fighting off, but other companies stride for [...]
