2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Srt-8 1000hp on 2040-cars

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Massachusetts man charged $48,000 for a tow [w/video]

Tow truck operators are right up there with landlords and IRS auditors on the list of professionals you don't want to deal with. A man in Massachusetts has all the more reason to avoid a tow after he was hit with a $48,000 bill, Fox 25 reports. Joel Ramer and his girlfriend were off-roading in Walpole, MA last week when they wandered were they shouldn't have. They landed in a mud pit on private property. Ramer said it took Assured Collision towing company 12 hours to free his vehicle from the muck. But when he got the bill for the tow, he thought the accounting department must have been off by a decimal. "When I went to pick up the vehicle from Assured Collision, he'd informed me there was some damage done to the vehicle, but didn't get into details. He also informed me the bill was $48,000," Ramer told Fox. "I thought they made a mistake." The phrase 'some damage' was putting it lightly. Ramer says Assured Collision totaled his Jeep. "Frame is broken, leaf spring is broken, drive shaft is broken," Ramer said. The itemized bill showed Ramer exactly what he was paying for. Assured Collision charged him $16,000 for an on-scene supervisor. That's $1,250 an hour. The Statewide Towing Association told Fox 25 that the actual industry standard is $175-$325 an hour. The company also claimed that power lines put them at risk, calling it a "hazmat situation." That allowed them to tack on another $5,000 fee for dangerous condition liability insurance. Finally, there was an extra $10,000 fee for an off-road recovery incident response unit. Insurance won't help with the cost of the tow, so Ramer's broke Jeep is in Assured Collision's hands. On top of the enormous bill and busted Jeep, Ramer was arrested and cited for trespassing on land owned by a utility company and disturbing the peace. Boston News, Weather, Sports | FOX 25 | MyFoxBoston

Stellantis to introduce hybrid versions of Fiat 500e EV, Jeep Compass

  MILAN — Fiat owner Stellantis said on Monday it would build a hybrid version of its 500e small electric car at its Mirafiori plant in Turin, Italy, amid a slowdown in electric car sales. The announcement came after Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares met in Turin with union representatives who had long been asking the company to boost production at Fiat's historic home with a new high-volume, cheaper model. The factory currently produces the 500e model, but a global slowdown in sales of fully electric vehicles has pushed Stellantis to significantly slow production rates, introducing protracted furlough periods for the plant's workers. "Carlos Tavares recalled the importance of offering affordable and high-quality cars for Italian customers," Stellantis said in a statement. It added that developing affordable cars also depended on external factors including lower energy costs, the development of a charging network for electric vehicles, and long-term subsidies for auto purchases. The move might help the automaker improve its relations with the Italian government, which has often criticized the group for its falling output in the country and for making some of its Fiat and Alfa Romeo models abroad. Stellantis — Italy's only major automaker — and the Rome government are in talks over a plan aimed at restoring the group's production in the country to 1 million vehicles by the end of this decade from around 750,000 last year. "The shared ambition with the Italian government to reach 1 million vehicles produced in Italy by 2030, will need a supportive business environment, currently impacted by electrification uncertainties and strong competition with new entrants to the market," the automaker said. FIM-Cisl union leader Ferdinando Uliano, who attended the meeting with Tavares, said Stellantis told him and others that production of the hybrid 500e would start in the first quarter of 2026 but did not give details about targeted output figures. Automotive News Europe, which first reported the hybrid 500 production earlier on Monday, said Stellantis was aiming for total annual output of 200,000 500s, including 125,000 hybrids, compared with fewer than 80,000 last year. The Franco-Italian carmaker also said it would build a hybrid version of the Jeep Compass SUV at the Melfi plant in southern Italy, and that production of the hybrid Fiat Panda city car made in Pomigliano near Naples could be extended.

Chrysler recalling 644k more Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs over brakes

Early last month, we reported on Chrysler issuing a preemptive, proactive recall for about 25,000 units of the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango. The issue revolved around a brake system that wasn't causing any actual problems, but delivered an unsatisfactory brake feel, so Auburn Hills called in a good 25,000 of SUVs around the world, including 18,700 in the United States.
Now Chrysler, having apparently determined that the brake problem on its sport utes is actually much bigger than it initially realized, has drastically broadened the scope of the recall. As a result, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a recall for precisely 655,354 examples of the Grand Cherokee and Durango, covering the 2011 through 2014 model years. In addition, Chrysler is recalling 42,380 units in Canada, 21,376 in Mexico and 159,685 overseas.
The problem which Chrysler found revolves around the brake booster, whose center shell has been found to be subject to corrosion, allowing water to get into the brake system. That water in turn could freeze, preventing the brakes from working as well as expected.