Santa Fe: selling off a junk car that won't run

The 90-day test, word for word

The definition has two branches, and one is enough. A car qualifies if it is "Inoperable and does not meet minimum legal requirements for operation on the public streets and highways of this state, pursuant to NMSA 1978 Section 66-3-901." It also qualifies if it "Has been continuously inoperable or has been wrecked, dismantled, partially dismantled, or abandoned." Either way, the condition has to last 90 days.

The code names the occupant of the premises as well as the owner, so a renter's dead car is the renter's issue on paper too.

The exception matters in a town full of old pickups. A "Special interest vehicle" is "a motor vehicle not less than thirty-five (35) years old which is being preserved or restored by a collector for its historical value." A stalled restoration that nobody is working on is a harder case; our old project car page talks through that choice.

The sections we read define the term. They don't set a notice period or a deadline after a complaint, so the city may have its own enforcement steps. If a notice arrives, the date on it is the one that counts.

When a stranger's car is abandoned on your property

Section 12-12-19 gives a property owner a way to clear an abandoned car without a title. You may sell, give away or dispose of it to a person licensed under "Sections 66-4-1 through 66-4-9 NMSA 1978," as long as you first notify a law enforcement agency and get a written clearance from it. One of three facts must also be true:

1. the car, whatever its age, is "totally wrecked or in such a state of disrepair that it is suitable only for dismantling purposes"
2. it "is at least eight (8) years of age or older"
3. it was put in a storage or wrecker yard at the request of police or the property owner and sat unclaimed for 30 days

Holding it has limits. Unless you are a licensed storage yard, you may charge no more than "fifty cents ($.50) per day," and you must notify owners and lien-holders within 30 days "or lose all rights to claim such vehicle."

In Santa Fe, a car younger than eight years, one going back on the road, or one you'll keep or sell to someone other than a licensed dismantler goes through the lien process and gets a new title. Under state law you begin with form MVD-10058, mailed certified or registered. The owner and the lender then get 10 days to pay. See car abandoned on your property.

Dead on the street after dark

A car that won't start sometimes ends up at the curb. Section 12-10-1.35 says that between "a half-hour after sunset and a half-hour before sunrise," a car parked on a roadway or shoulder needs lamps when there isn't enough light to see a person or object 500 feet away. A flat battery can make that hard. Under Section 12-12-12, an officer who spots an illegally parked car writes down its registration number and leaves a citation on it.

The MVD office on Camino Entrada

We looked up an office at 2546 Camino Entrada, roughly 3 miles southwest of downtown in a straight line. Santa Fe County may have more. In Santa Fe, private MVD partners and city offices can handle titles as well. The phone listed, 1-888-683-4636, is MVD's statewide line.

For a lost title, the duplicate is form MVD-10901 and costs $5. Hand it in at a Santa Fe field office. Another Santa Fe option is the mail. Mail it with copies of your driver license and registration to P.O. Box 1028, Santa Fe, care of the Vehicle Services Bureau. Send the lien release if the record shows a lien, or the lender gets the new title by mail.

Title, plates and the Sold Unit

New Mexico's sold-car paperwork ends up in Santa Fe. Santa Fe sellers mail the "Notice of Vehicle Sold" (MVD-10048) to P.O. Box 1028, Attn: Sold Unit, at the Motor Vehicle Division in Santa Fe, NM 87504-1028. It asks for the VIN, the plate, the sale date, the odometer reading, whether you removed the plate, both names and addresses, and your signature. Putting something untrue on it is a fourth degree felony.

The rest, in order:

• Title. Sign and assign it on the back with the odometer reading. If the space runs out, the bill of sale, MVD-10009, completes it. MVD's seller steps list no notary; a lien release on the lender's letterhead does need one, or the lender can use form MVD-10041.
• Plate. It stays with you. Santa Fe sellers get 30 days. In Santa Fe, MVD can destroy the plate, or it can go on another same-class car. Santa Fe owners who move it in year one of a two-year registration get credit for the unused year.
• For the buyer. Titling must happen within 90 days, and a 4% excise tax is owed.
• Emissions. Testing applies only in Bernalillo County, so a Santa Fe County car needs none.
• Branded titles. In Santa Fe, a nonrepairable certificate car can be sold only to a licensed wrecker or a licensed processor in another state.

Towns around Santa Fe

In straight lines, Rio Rancho is 48.0 miles away, Albuquerque 53.7, Los Lunas 74.9 and Farmington 143.9. Statewide rules are on the New Mexico page.

Getting an offer

Have a car to sell in Santa Fe? Call (877) 421-6008 or use our offer form. The truck comes to the car: a gravel driveway off a narrow lane, a casita's carport, or a shop yard near the Cerrillos Road side of town.