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History
| For nearly a century, the Rinke family has made a sincere commitment to its customers. In 1905, Joseph Rinke moved his family to Centerline, Michigan, and with Mike Smith, founded Rinke & Smith Hardware. In 1914, Rinke bought out Smith and the business became The Rinke General Store.
In 1917, the Rinkes began a long lasting relationship with General Motors. The original Rinke dealership was built in 1917 on the corner of Van Dyke and Engleman by Joseph's sons Norbert, Ed and George. This became the first full service dealer in the area with new and used car sales, service, parts and a body shop.
Surviving the tough depression and war years, the Rinkes began to expand as the next generation of sons entered the business. After the War, General Motors began requiring stand alone facilities for certain divisions. Norbert and his sons Roland, Roger, Richard and Joe chose to retain the Cadillac and Pontiac franchises. Ed Rinke moved Chevrolet and Buick to a new store. |
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In 1966, Roland built a new dealership in Warren at the corner of Eleven Mile Road and Van Dyke. RINKE PONTIAC moved to the new site. Joe Rinke joined his brother Roland at RINKE PONTIAC. The dealership at the Centerline location became ROGER RINKE CADILLAC. Roger and Richard operated the Cadillac dealership.
The seventies brought many changes to the auto industry and the RINKE dealerships. During this decade of change Roland added GMC Truck to the Pontiac store. He purchased a Toyota franchise and opened RINKE TOYOTA in the original dealership location on Van Dyke at Engleman in Centerline. Roger built a new Cadillac dealership next to RINKE PONTIAC-GMC on Eleven Mile Road, east of Van Dyke. Joe purchased a Chevrolet/Oldsmobile dealership in St. Clair, MI.
| Also active are Richard's son Paul, Sales Manager of RINKE CADILLAC, Joe Rinke and Roger's daughter Susan Rinke. In the last few years, all three dealerships have undergone complete renovation to continue to lead the industry with state-of-the-art facilities. |
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We are looking forward to serving you into the 21st century, well beyond our centennial.
Commitment The Rinke family has been sincerely committed to its customers and to the community for nearly a century, offering the finest products, services and amenities. They continuously strive to create higher standards in customer service. Generations have trusted the Rinkes to give them fair and honest prices and good, reliable service.
In addition, they have contributed to the community through numerous civic and philanthropic organizations. Providing more than 200 jobs, RINKE ranks among Macomb County's largest employers. The commitment extends to continuous training for their employees and empowering them to take a proactive approach to always do what is best for the customer and to make sure that he or she is satisfied.
Customer Benefits Include
- New owner reception quarterly
- Quality previously owned vehicles, reconditioned, warrantied and clearly priced below Bluebook
- State-of-the-art service and body shop facilities
- Quick oil change
- Shuttle for service customers
- Rental fleet on premise
- Computerized parts locator
- Parts boutique
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