CA licensing

toedtoes wrote:

mowermech wrote:
Just out of curiosity, what license is required in CA for a truck/fifth wheel/boat trailer combination (towing two trailers)?

Double towing is prohibited in California.

Actually, double towing is, indeed, legal but requires a Class A CDL with a doubles endorsement. The Non-Commercial Class A does NOT allow doubles, however!

Now, if you want to muddy the water further. Ask someone how to measure a Class A length. You will get plenty of different answers in the same office.

For what it is worth, below are relevant parts of the CA vehicle code. Not very clear, but it looks like housecars (motorhomes) 40ft and under are specifically exempted from the 26,000 weight.

12804.9.
...
(3) Class C includes the following:

(A) A two-axle vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of 26,000 pounds or less, including when the vehicle is towing a trailer or semitrailer with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of 10,000 pounds or less.

(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a two-axle vehicle weighing 4,000 pounds or more unladen when towing a trailer coach not exceeding 9,000 pounds gross.

(C) A house car of 40 feet in length or less.

(D) A three-axle vehicle weighing 6,000 pounds gross or less.

(E) A house car of 40 feet in length or less or a vehicle towing another vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less, including when a tow dolly is used. A person driving a vehicle may not tow another vehicle in violation of Section 21715.

(F) (i) A two-axle vehicle weighing 4,000 pounds or more unladen when towing either a trailer coach or a fifth-wheel travel trailer not exceeding 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, when the towing of the trailer is not for compensation.

(ii) A two-axle vehicle weighing 4,000 pounds or more unladen when towing a fifth-wheel travel trailer exceeding 10,000 pounds, but not exceeding 15,000 pounds, gross vehicle weight rating, when the towing of the trailer is not for compensation, and if the person has passed a specialized written examination provided by the department relating to the knowledge of this code and other safety aspects governing the towing of recreational vehicles upon the highway.

21715.
(a) No passenger vehicle regardless of weight, or any other motor vehicle under 4,000 pounds unladen, shall draw or tow more than one vehicle in combination, except that an auxiliary dolly or tow dolly may be used with the towed vehicle.

(b) No motor vehicle under 4,000 pounds unladen shall tow any vehicle weighing 6,000 pounds or more gross.

(Amended by Stats. 1983, Ch. 708, Sec. 8.)

CA vehicle code is written in such a way that if you were to walk into a DMV office, A CHP office, or talk with the local PD and ask the same question you will get different interpretations from each and usually different within the same office. Just as everyone here is giving different info. Weights and lengths are about the only black and white info you will find. Everything else you can find and exception within the language to contradict the original language.

If you want to completely frustrate yourself just do a search on this or any other forum and you can find someone that will prove you legal and then the next will prove you illegal.

haydoracin wrote:
The manual is very confusing in that it only states a non-commercial Class B is required for RVs over 40 feet but it also states a regular Class C license is only good for vehicles up to 26,000 pounds. That would indicate to me a Class B non-commercial license would be required for a motorhome under 40 feet but over 26,000 pounds.

The link I posted is a bit clearer.

With a basic class C license, you can drive a MH that is under 40ft AND 26,000lbs or less.

With a noncommercial class B license (no endorsement), you can drive a MH that is under 40ft AND more than 26,000lbs.

With a noncommercial class B license AND an endorsement, you can drive a MH that is at least 40ft but less than 45ft regardless of weight.

The manual is very confusing in that it only states a non-commercial Class B is required for RVs over 40 feet but it also states a regular Class C license is only good for vehicles up to 26,000 pounds. That would indicate to me a Class B non-commercial license would be required for a motorhome under 40 feet but over 26,000 pounds.

YC 1 wrote:
RV over 40 feet requires class B non commercial. There are plenty of threads on that.

Over a certain weight for 5th wheels needs a different license. It should be in the handbook posted.

X2 that’s what I have had for the last 12 years.

Read page 33. https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/28423ba0-bba6-4347-9e21-db274e970772/dl648.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

Actually, if you read the quote you posted, it states:

(b) (1) A combination of vehicles which consists of a truck tractor, a semitrailer, and a semitrailer or trailer, may not exceed 75 feet, if neither the semitrailers nor the trailer in the combination of vehicles exceeds 28 feet 6 inches.


So, they are using the term "vehicle" to include a trailer for the purpose of "combination".

Basically, unless you have a commercial license with an endorsement, you are prohibited from double towing.

toedtoes wrote:
Per DMV:

Noncommercial License Classes:
License classes are based on the size of the vehicle you wish to drive or the weight of the trailer you wish to tow. No passenger vehicle, pickup truck, or RV may tow more than one other vehicle without a Commercial Class A license with the proper endorsement.

So, yes, there are allowances to double tow, but you have to have a commercial license. You cannot double tow with a non-commercial license.

You are correct; I believe a commercial class A license with a doubles endorsement is required, although you USED to be able to do so with a non-commercial class A license with the doubles endorsement. Not sure when that changed (or even IF it changed). But it IS legal in CA. Also, there is some confusion with the statement "No passenger vehicle, pickup truck, or RV may tow more than one other vehicle..." in that I don't believe that a trailer is defined as a "vehicle".