Car Trains

[MossRoad]

In our travels back and forth to OK over the past month, in Missouri we've seen a junky car towing a junky car towing a junky car. Triples. Sometimes it's a junky car towing a junky car with a tow-bar and the 2nd car is towing a 3rd junky car on a tow dolly. Sometimes the 3rd car is just another tow-bar. Sometimes it's a truck or SUV in front, sometimes its a larger car.

We saw this 20-30 times. Anyone know what's up with that?

 

[Gee Ray]

Mostly people buying cars from Co-parts, or Manheim which are totaled by the insurance companies. The cars are purchased form the insurance company by rebuilders or junk yards which are to cheap to pay for a truck to move the cars. So they drag them back to their shops instead of hauling them.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I have never seen that in Oklahoma; I suspect it's illegal. I know at one time a lot of cars were hauled into Mexico.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I have never seen that in Oklahoma; I suspect it's illegal. I know at one time a lot of cars were hauled into Mexico.

I remember seeing them as pretty common when I was stationed in NM in the 80's. They did all seem to be heading towards Mexico, but it could have also just been rebuilders in El Paso, TX.

I did see one guy a couple years ago heading towards Bismarck with 3 pickup trucks that way. Was pulling 2 pickups with tow bars hooked between them. I didn't think that was legal here, but?

 

[fiddlearound]

We see it frequently here in Texas. Buyers coming from auto auctions heading to Mexico.

 

[MossRoad]

They were on 44 heading west between st. louis and joplin. My guess is they'd have to cut through ok.

Thanks for the explanations. Seems a car wouldn't have the towing capacity to pull two more legally.

 

[ljjhouser]

In our travels back and forth to OK over the past month, in Missouri we've seen a junky car towing a junky car towing a junky car. Triples. Sometimes it's a junky car towing a junky car with a tow-bar and the 2nd car is towing a 3rd junky car on a tow dolly. Sometimes the 3rd car is just another tow-bar. Sometimes it's a truck or SUV in front, sometimes its a larger car.

We saw this 20-30 times. Anyone know what's up with that?

What??? Is that unusual?? You clearly are not from the wonderful state of Missouri, with beautiful rolling hills and the Ozarks!! And the Gateway to the West .....ah er which way is that anyway. Did you check out the tags on the cars? If there were tags, they were not ours. Probably had Indiana tags. Ha. What you did not see is a junky truck pulling three nice cars!!. Is some parts of Missouri, a successful marriage is being married to a woman who buys you a nice truck and has a job! What do you think about that! LOL

 

[MossRoad]

I grabbed some pics off various sources...

This one's using a pickup to pull a tow dolly with some suv towing a mustang.







this one's three cars

 

[Jstpssng]

I guarantee they wouldn't get far in this state. Piggy backing is only legal in limited situations, and this ain't one of them.

 

[von-mil]

I have seen these junker caravans several times on the roads from Dodge City, KS down into New Mexico. I always presumed they are headed south of the border. Sometimes the lead car under power appears to be in worse shape than the one or two being pulled.

 

[Oaktree]

I guarantee they wouldn't get far in this state. Piggy backing is only legal in limited situations, and this ain't one of them.

I suspect it's the same thing in N.H. Never seen anything like this here.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

My brother, who lived in Albuquerque, said that if you had an older 4WD, you had to keep an eye on it; otherwise it would be in Mexico before you knew it was gone. Seems there was quite a market for those vehicles.

 

[ljjhouser]

I find that somewhat amazing. I was born and raised in Joplin. Travel often from KC to Branson. My wife has lived in MO 40 years and I have 76 years. Some of my friends were over last night for dinner. I showed them this post. They have lived in MO 18 years and part of that was in Springifield. None of us ever remember seeing something like that. But we usually travel north-south on 65-13 most of the time. Thanks for the education. Very interesting. And both north south and east west are patrolled pretty well. I wonder if writing "IN TOW" actually makes it legal. I found this online. Seems to mostly apply to truck-camper-trailer. But still referres to triple towing. But I don't think all 4 vehicles would be under 65'. Beginning to think "legal" means you won't get stopped because nobody cares. I have seen trucks in KS ON THE INTERSTATE TOW road doing that with trailers. But I think they must park the excess trailers on the interstate and send additional tractors to pick them up.

STATE	TRIPLE TOW ALLOWED?
Alabama	No
Alaska	Yes
Arizona	Yes
Arkansas	Yes
California	Yes
Colorado	Yes
Connecticut	Yes
Delaware	No
Florida	No
Georgia	No
Hawaii	Yes
Idaho	Yes
Illinois	No
Indiana	Yes
Iowa	Yes
Kansas	No
Kentucky	Yes
Louisiana	Yes
Maine	No
Maryland	No
Massachussetts	No
Michigan	No
Minnesota	No
Mississippi	No
Missouri	Yes
Montana	Yes
Nebraska	Yes
Nevada	No
New Hampshire	No
New Jersey	No
New Mexico	Yes
New York	No
North Carolina	Yes
North Dakota	Yes
Ohio	Yes
Oklahoma	No
Oregon	No
Pennsylvania	Yes
Rhode Island	No
South Carolina	Yes
South Dakota	Yes
Tennessee	Yes
Texas	No
Utah	Yes
Vermont	Yes
Virginia	No
Washington	No
West Virginia	No
Wisconsin	No
Wyoming	No

Below is a list of some of the specific triple towing laws of each specific state, as well as some advice on safe towing practices.

Missouri​

• Triple Towing: Permitted
• Maximum Vehicle Length (Including All Add-ons): 65 feet
• Maximum Speed Limit for Towing Vehicles: 65 mph

​

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[MossRoad]

Well, they aren't triple towing, they're double towing.

 

[Egon]

Then there are the Aussie truck tractor trains!

 

[MossRoad]

Then there are the Aussie truck tractor trains!

Yeah, a little bit larger....