New Mexico junk and dead car sales

How titles work in New Mexico

The Motor Vehicle Division (MVD), within the Taxation and Revenue Department, handles titles. Besides the state's field offices, title work is also done by private MVD partners and by some municipal offices. Questions go to the MVD info line, 1-888-683-4636.

New Mexico sellers sign the assignment section on the title's reverse. When that block is incomplete or full, Bill of Sale form MVD-10009 completes a transfer between private parties. Record the odometer reading in one of three places: the title's reverse, the MVD-10009, or odometer statement MVD-10187.

No notary appears in the MVD's seller steps. The manual reserves notarization for a power of attorney and for a lien release written on lienholder letterhead. MVD form 10041 is the other way to release a lien.

After the sale, the buyer gets 90 days to title the car. Past that, a 50% penalty lands on the 4% excise tax the buyer owes.

The plate goes home with you

New Mexico calls itself a "Vehicle Plate to Owner" state. Take the plate off at the sale. You then have 30 days to bring it to the MVD for destruction, or to apply to move it onto another vehicle in the same class. New Mexico gives you credit for the unused second year when you move it during year one of a two-year registration.

Notice of Vehicle Sold

Form MVD-10048 is the seller's notice under NMSA 66-3-101(A). It asks for the VIN, plate number, sale date and odometer reading, whether the plate came off, and the names and addresses of buyer and seller. Sign it and mail it to the MVD Sold Unit in Santa Fe. The box number is printed on the form.

Be accurate. The form says a false statement is perjury, "a fourth degree felony."

No title on hand

Start with a duplicate: $5.00 on form MVD-10901. Across New Mexico, you can drop it off at a local field office. Mailing works too. New Mexico sellers mail it, with copies of their driver license and registration, to Santa Fe, where the Vehicle Services Bureau handles it. A title showing a lien needs a Release of Lien. Without one, the duplicate is mailed to the lienholder.

Two notes for cars that do not run:

• No original title on file and a car that will not run? You set up the VIN inspection part of the application.
• Nothing at all, no title and no papers? The MVD may take a surety bond worth twice the car's value, running 3 years, plus a VIN inspection.

See selling with no title and title bonds.

Salvage and nonrepairable

There is no percentage test. Once an insurer declares a total loss, the car is branded salvage or nonrepairable no matter what repairs would cost. Every title after that keeps the salvage brand.

New Mexico law calls a car "nonrepairable" if its only value is as parts or scrap metal, or if its owner has set it aside for good for parts, scrap or destruction. Heavily stripped or burned cars fall in the same group. Such a car can be sold only to a wrecker holding a state license or to a processor with an out-of-state license. After a nonrepairable certificate is issued, the MVD will not issue any more ownership certificates for that car.

Two more rules:

• An unbranded title cannot legally be used to sell a salvage or nonrepairable car.
• If you hold on to a New Mexico car once the insurance company pays, its title gets SALVAGE or NONREPAIRABLE printed on it in letters half an inch tall or bigger.

More in our nonrepairable title guide.

Abandoned cars and the landowner's lien

Someone holding a car left on their property can claim an "Abandoned Vehicle Lien" once an unreasonable period has passed, usually 30 days or more. A bond is not a substitute. The lien process is the required route.

Notice goes out on form MVD-10058 to the registered owner and any lienholder, sent certified or registered, and they then have 10 days to pay. For a car 8 years old or more, an NCIC clearance is enough to pass it to a dismantler, no title needed. Younger cars, and any car headed for resale, have to be titled through the lien process.

City junk-car rules vary. Ten of our 11 New Mexico town pages quote the local code.

Tow and storage liens

Tow companies with a Public Regulation Commission license can claim a lien if the owner never picks up the car or pays for towing and storage. Storage businesses have a matching lien. When the titling state reports NO RECORD, the claimant must advertise a public auction in a county newspaper. If a tow company ends up titling the car this way, it writes the mileage down as NM rather than actual.

Emissions in Bernalillo County

Bernalillo County, the Albuquerque area, is the only place New Mexico tests emissions. Cars registered there or commuting in, model year 1991 or newer and no heavier than 10,000 lbs GVW, test every two years "and at change of ownership." New vehicles get four exempt years. Dedicated electric cars and diesels are the only ones exempt outright.

We saw no periodic safety inspection on the MVD pages read. Out-of-state titles do get a VIN inspection.

A registration that lapsed while the car sat costs $10 extra if under 31 days late. At 31 days or more, the penalty is 75% of the registration fee.

Parting it out yourself

Private owners may make four casual sales a calendar year of vehicles titled to them. Dismantling cars to sell parts or scrap takes an auto recycler license, and keeping three or more wrecked cars while regularly selling parts is presumed to be a business.

Selling, start to finish

1. Find the title, or file for a $5.00 duplicate.
2. Ask us for an offer on your New Mexico car right where it sits.
3. Assign the title and write in the mileage.
4. Remove the plate, then send in MVD-10048.

New Mexico's biggest cities

Pickup costs nothing in any of them. Figures are Census population estimates.

Every New Mexico town page

Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, Roswell, Farmington, Hobbs, Clovis, Carlsbad, Alamogordo, Los Lunas.

Want to talk it through? Call (877) 421-6008.

Cities and towns in New Mexico

• Alamogordo
• Albuquerque
• Carlsbad
• Clovis
• Farmington
• Hobbs
• Las Cruces
• Los Lunas
• Rio Rancho
• Roswell
• Santa Fe