Rolling Mexican Parking Lot

In reply to sergio :

They aren't repaired then brought back. They're buying driveable but cosmetically challenged vehicles and selling them in Mexico. My understanding is they don't have to worry about salvage or rebuilt titles. 

My understanding was that they run on Mexican license plates, potentially even commercial plates, and because of NAFTA we have to let them through.  Same rules that let trucks drive all over North America apply to cars.

They run southbound in I71 thru Cincinnati area also.  Scared the crap out of me first time I saw one of these rolling junkyards.  Still give me the willies.

I live close to Interstate 10 in Alabama and see these trains in groups of three in Florida , Alabama and Mississippi along the I-10 corridor Sometimes the train includes a full size pickup or other light truck with bicycles piled as high and wide as you could get them always looking as if they are about to fall off the truck. Occasionally there will be a motorcycle or two mixed in always ones that had been wrecked and need parts. I actually see them quite often and try to get around them as fast as possible. Always looks like a wreck looking for a place to happen.

Keep the speeds reasonable and the following distances long and they are probably safer than all the drivers I see with phones jammed in their faces. 

In reply to Toyman01 :

I was kind of thinking the same thing. An unsafe vehicle operated attentively is safer than the best kept new vehicle with a texting and/or drunk driver. Then again I have no information on the driver's attentiveness.

Toyman01 said:

Keep the speeds reasonable and the following distances long and they are probably safer than all the drivers I see with phones jammed in their faces. 

Good point.

pirate said:

I live close to Interstate 10 in Alabama and see these trains in groups of three in Florida , Alabama and Mississippi along the I-10 corridor Sometimes the train includes a full size pickup or other light truck with bicycles piled as high and wide as you could get them always looking as if they are about to fall off the truck. Occasionally there will be a motorcycle or two mixed in always ones that had been wrecked and need parts. I actually see them quite often and try to get around them as fast as possible. Always looks like a wreck looking for a place to happen.

I do have to say that I have never seen one of these trains pulled over by the side of the road by State Police or Sheriff's department or for that matter broke down even though they all look questionable.

And here I thought it was just a Mexican funeral with only one set of jumper cables... 

pirate said:

I live close to Interstate 10 in Alabama...

We're close enough we really should meet up sometime. Or build a Challenge car.  

ultraclyde said:

In reply to AnthonyGS :

Pretty sure you did come right out and say it...

Sorta but I held back a lot.  I won't get into how other laws are applied or not applied based on socio-economics but its so obvious and one sided.  It's utterly ridiculous.

In reply to AnthonyGS :

If you're trying to side-eye and claim that people with money are targeted by police MORE than people without money, then I have a bridge to sell you. Go sit in a courtroom for a day and tell me the people going through there are the middle class. Not a chance. 

In reply to dculberson :

I don't think that is what he is saying. He is saying the since these are probably Mexicans that will be long gone by the time their court date comes around, the police don't bother to stop them and write the tickets since they will never collect. He's probably not wrong.

Duke said:

How on earth is that even remotely legal?  Why don't they get pulled over as soon as they set a tire on the interstate?

 

I've seen this a few times on I-71 in Ohio,  Apparently an "IN TRANSIT" banner on the tail car lets you get away with a lot.

I have never seen it with cars, though.  Only midsize SUVs.  Think about that for a minute: a 3-vehicle conga line of Trailblazers and Sorentos and other things hurtling down the Interstate at 60-70mph.

My big question is, what do they do when they have to refuel?

John Welsh said:

Which is scarrier to stop?  

• The 3,000lb Focus saddled with another 3,000lb Sonic
• or
• The 4,000lb Edge saddled with 6,000lbs of Cruise and Sentra

From experience, the scary thing is not stopping, it's getting pushed sideways on an interchange curve.  And that was in a 2800lb Subaru towing a 2000lb VW.

In reply to Knurled. :

...and they have to be refueling often!  My guess is planning so as to never have to back up.  You'd need the whole pump island also.  Enough room for 2-3 cars.  

A Focus w/ and automatic doesn't get that great of mpg alone, maybe 28 hyw.  How bad does it get hauling double-duty?  

In reply to Toyman01 :

Came here to say this. What’s worse a 3000lb focus rowing two other 3000lb focuses with a driver and crew who really know what they’re doing  or a teenager on a phone driving a 6000 pound pickup? 

The ones I saw weren't traveling at the limit. Although it did have an actual truck at the front, not a Focus. Maybe in flatter parts of the country these guys can actually get up to speed.

The cars aren't so bad, the trucks full of junk are. The driver won't notice when a 3 foot long chunk of steel breaks through the bungee cords, but the car behind sure will. I had a close encounter with a giant prybar once, fortunately not at highway speeds.

In reply to Toyman01 :

Maybe you missed his first post: "it's really obvious certain laws don't apply to certain people...... and the reason why is money.  If they can't or will never pay, there just won't be any legal action taken."

now that I think about it you might be right. :)

Not uncommon, I used to pull setups like this all the time.

Usually coming though Va/DC area, I just see the Mexico-Train looking as such:

First vehicle usually a box truck or flatbed with a car on it, and towing another. Second vehicle clearly auction-purchased, flat-towing another auction-purchased care. Third and fourth the same. Looks like they all cram into one vehicle (truck/van) for the drive up and then buy drivable vehicles at auction to tow the non-drivable ones. They always look sketchy and are moving faster on the highway than they should. I give them a wide berth when I'm nearby. 

Multi-vehicle tow like this would NEVER make it through Virginia without getting pulled over, I'm quite certain of that. 

side note: There is a dominos-style game called "Mexican Train." My parents play it all the time (and they're not hispanic). 

Toyman01 said:

Keep the speeds reasonable and the following distances long and they are probably safer than all the drivers I see with phones jammed in their faces. 

Look up "false equivalency"  And just how do you know the driver of this train wreck does not have a phone jammed in their face looking for their next auction buy?

In Mexico I see many cars without license plates, because they take them away if you don't pay your fines.

So police don't bother to cite cars without plates.  It is only the dumb gringos with plates that get pulled over.  :)

I was trying to pull my phone out and take video of a smaller truck towing a cement mixer on the 99 freeway with the mixer swinging wildly back and forth while they were driving it at 60mph.   Oh my, just WTF were they thinking?  

dculberson said:

In reply to AnthonyGS :

If you're trying to side-eye and claim that people with money are targeted by police MORE than people without money, then I have a bridge to sell you. Go sit in a courtroom for a day and tell me the people going through there are the middle class. Not a chance. 

I'm not side eyeing it.  I can give specific laws which are only enforced if someone has the means to pay them.  The Dallas bicycle helmet law is a perfect example.  The state has even ruled it violates state law but it doesn't keep the city from collecting funds. 

In reply to nimblemotorsports :

You can what if a situation to death. The question is, how many of these rigs are we seeing piled up on the side of the highway? I haven't seen anyone cite examples of it.

After doing some digging, there isn't much info other it's extremely common to see. They buy everything cheap at a auction, train them south and sell them all through Mexico and Central America. 

There was a thread on a police forum where most of the officers said it's not worth the trouble to stop them and write tickets. They will never see them in court, nor will they pay the fines. So they just ignore it and go after the people that can and will pay. The one officer that said he stopped one of them said the person had a Mexican DL and insurance. He sent him on his way. If they were causing lots of wrecks, then the PD would probably crack down on them just to keep it out of the news.