The form for selling a car you have not finished paying for - to a buyer who takes over the payments. A transfer of equity is a three-party agreement between owner, buyer and the lender, and the division's manual says this certification is generally used in lieu of both the Bill of Sale and Release of Lien: the lender is a party to the transaction, so no separate release exists or is needed. The sheet carries the seller's odometer certification, a wreck-damage certification most people never notice, the lien's full particulars including the unpaid balance, and the buyer's promise to assume it.
Written against MVD-10044 (Rev 04/91), issued under Vehicle Procedures Manual, Chapter 8 Section M (Transfer of Equity/Lien).
Until the title moves and the lender's records move with it, you are a person whose name is on a loan secured by a car someone else drives. Of everything in the New Mexico set, this is the transaction least worth doing informally - the manual's own account of unrecorded liens ends with two lenders in court and a felony citation for disposing of encumbered property.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MVD-10044 from the realfile.tax.newmexico.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MVD-10044 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual MVD-10044, rendered from the PDF the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, Motor Vehicle Division publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.
Amber — you write it
Grey — not yours to fill
Numbered — explained below
Three parties on one page: the seller certifies the mileage and the chassis, the lender's block carries the loan's particulars including the unpaid balance, and the buyer's block sits over the assumption sentence - whose signature rule, like the others on this 1991 sheet, is a printed line the fillable PDF leaves to the pen. The boat measurements stay empty for a pickup.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Vehicle and seller blocks
The truck as titled, then your printed name and address.
Watch out: Year Registered means the registration year currently on the vehicle - it ties the certification to the live record, not to the year you bought it.
2
You fill this in
The odometer certification
Whole miles, one of the three printed codes, exactly as on any other New Mexico transfer.
Watch out: Loan or no loan, this is the same federal statement with the same criminal exposure. The buyer's later signature acknowledges your reading.
3
You fill this in
The chassis sentence
Read it before signing anything: you are certifying no wreck-damage chassis repairs except as noted on the reverse or attachments.
Watch out: If the truck has been hit and straightened, note it - on the reverse, in writing, before signatures. Silence here is a certification, not an omission.
4
The lienholder fills this in
The lien block, from the lender
Lienholder name and numbers, file and maturity dates, the original amount and - the live figure - the unpaid lien balance.
Watch out: Get the payoff figure from the lender in writing the same week the form is signed. Interest moves the balance, and the number on this sheet is the one the tax is computed on.
5
The buyer fills this in
The purchaser's assumption
The buyer's name and address, then their signed certification assuming full responsibility for the unpaid balance and the lien's conditions.
Watch out: The buyer should confirm directly with the lender that the assumption is accepted before signing - the form documents an agreement, it does not force a lender into one.
6
You fill this in
If money changed hands too
Any payment above the assumed balance goes onto a Bill of Sale showing the correct total - the assumed balance plus the extra.
Watch out: The division taxes the whole consideration. Splitting the price between an honest form and a quiet envelope is exactly the mischaracterisation the perjury statutes cover.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Year, Make, Model, Body Type (series)
The vehicle, plus a boat-measurement rule left empty for cars.
Vehicle or Hull Identification Number, Plate or Boat Reg. No., State, Year Registered
The identification band.
SELLER INFORMATION
Printed name and address of the owner walking away from the loan.
ODOMETER DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
The familiar federal certification - reading in whole miles, then THE ACTUAL MILEAGE (AM), MILEAGE IN EXCESS OF MECHANICAL LIMITS (EL), or the NM discrepancy warning.
The chassis-damage certification
A line unique in the New Mexico set: the seller certifies that to the best of their knowledge no alterations or repairs have been made to the chassis of this vehicle due to wreck damage, except as noted on the reverse side or attachments.
LIEN & LIENHOLDER INFORMATION
The lender's printed name, address, lienholder number, the vehicle's title number, the lien number, file date, maturity date - and two dollar boxes: Original Lien Amount and Unpaid Lien Balance.
PURCHASER INFORMATION
The incoming owner's printed name and address.
The purchaser's assumption sentence
The buyer certifies they have purchased the vehicle on which there is an outstanding lien balance for the amount indicated, and agree to assume full responsibility for the unpaid balance and comply with all conditions of the lien.
What gets this one rejected
•Filed without the lender. The whole point of the certification is that the lienholder agreed - a buyer 'taking over payments' on a handshake has bought a repossession in progress.
•An unpaid balance the lender did not supply. That figure is the loan's, not your recollection of it, and the tax is computed against it.
•Cash on top of the loan hidden from the paperwork. The manual is specific: if consideration is paid over and above the unpaid balance, a bill of sale is required as well, reflecting the correct total.
•The odometer block treated as optional. This is a transfer of ownership; the federal disclosure applies exactly as it would in a cash sale.
•The chassis certification signed unread. It is a damage disclosure - wreck repairs not noted on the reverse make the certification false.
•Used for a paid-off car. Once the balance is zero the lien is released, not assumed, and the ordinary bill of sale and release forms take over.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The tax still lands on the buyer. Excise tax is due on the assumed balance - or the division's book-value floor if higher - and on any extra consideration on top. Taking over a loan is a purchase in the tax's eyes.
•Your name comes off the debt only if the lender says so. The certification transfers the vehicle subject to the loan. Whether the lender releases you from personal liability on the note is between you and the lender, on the lender's paper - not something this form accomplishes.
