2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 66 - Motor Vehicles › Article 3 - Registration Laws; Security Interests; Anti-Theft Provisions; Bicycles; Equipment; Unsafe Vehicles; Off-Highway Motor Vehicles; Other Vehicles › Part 1 - REGISTRATION, CERTIFICATES OF TITLE AND REGISTRATION PLATES GENERALLY › Section 66-3-10 - Department to issue certificate of title, evidence of registration, registration plate and validation sticker; release of lien; odometer statement.

A. The department, upon registration of a vehicle, shall issue a certificate of title and evidence of registration; an odometer statement may appear on one or both of these documents.
B. Except for certificates of title issued pursuant to Section 66-3-2, 66-3-27 or 66-3-423 NMSA 1978 and for manufactured homes, school buses, state government vehicles, motorcycles and off-highway motor vehicles, upon issuance of a new certificate of title or upon transfer of a certificate of title, the department shall issue a registration plate and a validation sticker to the owner of the vehicle.
C. The registration evidence shall be delivered to the owner and shall contain upon its face the date issued, the name and address of the owner, the registration number assigned to the owner and such description of the vehicle registered to the owner as determined by the secretary.
D. The certificate of title shall contain the identical information required on the registration evidence and in addition a statement of the owner's title and of all liens and encumbrances upon the vehicle.
E. The certificate of title shall contain a space for the release of any lien, space for assignment of title or interest and warranty by the owner and space for notation of liens and encumbrances upon the vehicle at the time of transfer.
F. The certificate of title shall be delivered to the owner in the event no lien or encumbrances appear thereon, otherwise the certificate of title shall be delivered to the person named to receive it in the application for certificate.
G. Whenever the owner of a vehicle subject to registration transfers the person's title or interest in the vehicle to a nonresident who desires to title the vehicle in the state of the nonresident's residence, the department upon receiving application and the payment of the proper fee shall issue a certificate of title only and record on the certificate all liens and encumbrances.
History:
1953 Comp., § 64-3-10, enacted by Laws 1978, ch. 35, § 30; 1981, ch. 361, § 5; 1989, ch. 318, § 5; 2020, ch. 39, § 2.
ANNOTATIONS
Cross references.
— For registration of off-highway motorcycles,
see
66-3-1003 NMSA 1978.
The 2020 amendment,
effective January 1, 2021, required registration plate and validation sticker issuance upon transfer of motor vehicle ownership; in the section heading, changed "Division" to "Department", and added "registration plate and validation sticker"; in Subsection A, replaced "division" with "department"; added a new Subsection B and redesignated the succeeding subsections accordingly; in Subsection C, after "determined by the", deleted "director" and added "secretary"; and in Subsection G, after "residence, the", deleted "division" and added "department".
The 1989 amendment,
effective July 1, 1989, in Subsection C substituted "contain the identical information required on the" for "contain upon the face thereof the identical information required upon the face of the", and deleted the former second sentence which read: "Said certificate shall bear therein the seal of the division"; in Subsection D deleted "upon the reverse side" following "contain" and deleted "appearing upon the face thereof and" following "lien"; and made minor stylistic changes throughout the section.
Evidence of ownership.
— The title transfer provisions of the Motor Vehicle Code are not to be interpreted as providing an exclusive method for transferring title. This conclusion is strongly supported by the provision (Section 64-3-10, 1953 Comp., similar to Section 66-3-12 NMSA 1978) that the certificate of title is prima facie evidence of ownership. Such language clearly indicates an intention that the certificate of title is only evidence of ownership and that the same may be shown by other proof.
Schall v. Mondragon
, 1964-NMSC-107, 74 N.M. 348, 393 P.2d 457;
Clovis Fin. Co. v. Sides
, 1963-NMSC-065, 72 N.M. 17, 380 P.2d 173.
When title passes.
— Since New Mexico does not require an exclusive or mandatory method of transferring title to an automobile, it therefore follows that title and ownership pass when the parties intend it to pass.
Schall v. Mondragon
, 1964-NMSC-107, 74 N.M. 348, 393 P.2d 457.
Fees paid need not be shown on owner's copy.
— There is no statutory requirement that the fees paid be shown upon the owner's copy of the registration certificate. There is a blank on the registration certificate for filling in such information but it is discretionary with the agent or employee issuing the registration certificate as to whether or not this information will be furnished on the certificate itself. The commissioner (now secretary) does have a regulation promulgated to the effect that on request by any applicant for registration and certificate of title, a separate receipt will be furnished him showing the amount of fees paid. 1960 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 60-76.
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references.
— 7A Am. Jur. 2d Automobiles and Highway Traffic §§ 26, 54.
Liability of state, in issuing automobile certificate of title, for failure to discover title defect, 28 A.L.R.4th 184.
60 C.J.S. Motor Vehicles §§ 42, 105, 106.