Farmington junk car removal: your options

The 48-hour rule in 12-2-57

The main rule is short. Inside city limits, an owner, tenant, occupant or lessee cannot allow a "partially dismantled, nonoperating, wrecked, junked or discarded motor vehicle" to remain on a lot "longer than 48 hours". Nobody may leave such a car on someone else's property longer than that either. On a street or highway, it may not be left at all.

The exceptions are where this section differs from most towns:

• a vehicle in an enclosed building or structure, or one hidden by fencing, landscaping, screens, or a tarp or car cover so it cannot be seen from other property
• vehicles a lawful business needs for its operation, but "not ... longer than a period of six months"
• vehicles in a storage place the city maintains, or in a storage area the Unified Development Code allows

The ten-day rule in 23-2-15

The solid waste chapter makes it unlawful to leave outside any "vehicle or portions thereof" that is wrecked, junked, dismantled or inoperative "and which is not completely enclosed within a building or dwelling." That sentence does not mention tarps.

Its clock starts with a notice. An item still on the property "for a period of ten days after notice of violation shall be presumed to be abandoned." The city may then remove it, after giving the landowner notice under section 12-2-28.

The two sections do not read the same way on covers. If a notice arrives, check which section it cites, and ask the city before counting on a tarp.

Abandoned on a street: 48 hours and $10

Section 25-6-3 handles cars on streets, alleys, public ways and government land. A car there that "displays no license plate or other sign of registration" counts as abandoned. The city attaches a notice saying that if the car "is not removed within 48 hours" it may be taken into custody and stored at the owner's expense. The code presumes the registered owner abandoned it, with "a penalty of $10.00, plus towing and storage costs."

Business lots and what a junkyard is

Farmington's development code keeps repair shops and junkyards apart. A "public garage" may service, repair and store vehicles, but the definition says repairing does not include "the rebuilding, dismantling or storage of wrecked or junked vehicles." A junkyard or wrecking yard is the use of premises "for open storage of wrecked or dilapidated automobiles, trucks, trailers" and their parts. So a car a shop cannot fix should not become a long-term resident there either.

Branded titles in New Mexico

A Farmington car totaled by an insurer gets a salvage or nonrepairable brand, whatever the repair bill. Once a car is nonrepairable, it is only worth something as parts or scrap. The only legal buyers are a licensed wrecker or a licensed processor from out of state. Once MVD issues a nonrepairable certificate, it issues no further ownership certificates for that car. If there was no insurance settlement, the owner sends the endorsed title and fee to MVD within 20 days of the loss to get that certificate. Our nonrepairable title guide goes further.

A car someone else left with you

Holding a car you do not own is a lien matter, not a sale. New Mexico lets a property owner claim an "Abandoned Vehicle Lien" after an unreasonable period, "generally at least 30 days". Whoever claims the lien sends MVD-10058, the "Notice of Mechanic's or Landowner's Lien", by certified or registered mail to the owner and to the lienholder. They then have 10 days to pay. A car eight years or older can go to a licensed dismantler on an NCIC clearance; a younger one must be titled through the lien process. See car abandoned on your property.

The MVD office and the sale

From our search, the Farmington Motor Vehicle Division field office sits at 3501 E. Main Street #N. On a map it's roughly 1 mile east of downtown. Farmington sellers can phone MVD at 1-888-683-4636. San Juan County may also have other offices or private MVD partners.

In Farmington, you sign the back of the title to the buyer and swear to the odometer reading. For a Farmington car, you may also write the miles on the Bill of Sale (MVD-10009) or the odometer statement (MVD-10187). No notary step appears in the MVD's seller instructions. In Farmington, the only papers that need a notary are a power of attorney or a lien release on the lender's letterhead.

Keep the plate. Within 30 days, New Mexico wants the plate either destroyed by MVD or put on another vehicle of the same class. Next, a Farmington seller mails form MVD-10048, the "Notice of Vehicle Sold", to the Santa Fe Sold Unit.

Getting an offer

Selling a Farmington car? Call (877) 421-6008 or send us the online form. Our driver can load it from behind a fence, from under a cover in a side yard or from a shop off Main Street. No other city we cover is close to Farmington. The nearest, Albuquerque, sits 142.6 miles away. For statewide rules, see New Mexico.