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YES as long as the drive wheels rotate while the car is being towed.

The front wheel drive cars are towed with the front wheels off the ground. Rear wheel cars are towed with the rear wheels off the ground. No mileage can be accumulatd on the odometer with the drive wheels up in the air. Most wreckers are flat bed anyway, so the car is just "sitting" there during transit.

It depends on how you tow it. If you have all 4 wheels rolling on the ground while your moving it you WILL accumulate miles. But if you tow it with the wheels that drive the car off the ground like on one of those U-HAUL car movers you WON'T accumulate miles.

MOST cars built since the late '80s have electric speedometers. They will not register any miles as long as the ignition is turned off, even if they are towed with all four wheels on the ground. They will also register positive mileage when being driven in reverse.

The odometer generally operates based on the number of driveshaft rotations generated by the transmission. If the car is in neutral, the transmission is not generating the driveshaft rotations, and the odometer will not register the miles.

>>>>>>>>>>>> LWARRANTY's UPDATE TO ABOVE STATEMENT - ASE master mechanic - owner / operator two full service repair centers - fourty five years in the trade, enough certifications to fill a dump truck...

The above statement is INCORRECT notably - "If the car is in neutral, the transmission is not generating the driveshaft rotations" - additionally - "YES as long as the drive wheels rotate while the car is being towed". In traditional vehicles the shafts be it cv axle OR drive shaft still spins if drive wheels are on the ground rotating (excluding locking hubs 4x4 transfer case etc), neutral is an integral part of the transmission, it does not disengage the drive shaft from the wheels or differential in front or rear wheel drive vehicles. Rear wheel drive AND front wheel drive vehicle speed sensors on a major majority of vehicles both electronic AND gear driven are where the drive shaft and/or cv shaft enter the output housing to an output shaft of the transmission - if the drive shaft spins so does the output shaft, if the system is energized the electronic speed sensor will pick up a square wave from speed sensor ring gear on the output shaft and register to the ECM OR in strictly mechanical / gear driven, instead of a speed sensor ring, it has a gear drive surface, while the cable has a driven gear that it mates with - it will drive / spin the cable and roll the odometer system energized or not, additionally in the early migration to electronics the cable driven speedometers could have TWO methods of utilizing the speedometer gear in the output shaft, the cable drives the speedometer gauge and odometer and a hall effect sensor in the instrument cluster OR a speed sensor combined in the adapter where it slides into trans sends a signal to the ECM to report vehicle speed or mileage directly and/or utilizes vss/rpm/abs/wheel speed sensors or combination thereof including algorithm to record mileage.

Bottom line - I will not elaborate further on the methods to transport vehicles, simply responding to the original question - the absolute correct answer could only be determined upon make/model/year/trans type of the vehicle in question - the "fuzzy" answer is contained herein...

>>>> LWARRANTY ORIGINAL STATEMENT

Electronic speedometers will not register unless ignition is on, mechanical speedo's will. It's important to know how to tow your vehicle, towing a vehicle that requires lubrication / cooling to moving components that is supplied by the engine running, slinging or other means, could / will result in costly repairs. When in doubt, if the wheels on the ground are drive wheels, you'll need to get further information. For frequent towing - behind motor home, etc - aftermarket pumps can be installed in trans lines and other options are available IF drive wheels are on the ground and that is your only option. For short towing you can leave engine running in neutral and still lubricate transmissions, however this can raise a fit with ABS and traction control systems on newer cars. When in doubt - double check it out!

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