How to fill out New Mexico MVD-10048

The seller's letter to the division, and the only document in the New Mexico set that is entirely yours: one page notifying the MVD, in the form's words, that the vehicle has been sold, or otherwise transferred or assigned, and is no longer in my possession, with a request that the record be updated to show it sold. It records the buyer, the date, the mileage at handover, and asks one yes-or-no question the rest of the paperwork never asks aloud: was the license plate removed from the vehicle?

Written against MVD-10048 (Rev 08/14), issued under NMSA 1978 §66-3-101(A), cited on the form's own face. This notice is the paperwork answer to the question every seller eventually asks: how do I prove I no longer own it? Between the buyer's 30-day window and human procrastination, months can pass before the title moves - and until this form reaches Santa Fe, nothing in the division's records says the car left your driveway.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MVD-10048 from the mvd.newmexico.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MVD-10048 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Identify the vehicle completely

   VIN, make, model, model year and the plate number, from your own records - the certificate has gone with the buyer by now.

   Watch out: Photograph the completed assignment before handing the title over. Every number this notice asks for is on that photo.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Date vehicle sold

   The actual handover date, matching the date on the assignment and the bill of sale.

   Watch out: This is the date you want in the division's records, because everything the vehicle does afterwards - tolls, cameras, abandonment - is measured against it.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Mileage at time of transfer

   The same whole-mile reading you certified on the sale paperwork.

   Watch out: Restate, don't re-estimate. A notice that disagrees with the certified disclosure creates a discrepancy in your own favourless direction.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   The plate question

   YES or NO: was the plate removed?

   Watch out: If the honest answer is NO, fix the fact before filing the form - the plate is yours to remove, and 'no' here is an admission the plate-to-owner rule was skipped.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   Buyer and seller, printed with addresses

   Both parties' names and addresses, printed - the buyer does not sign this form.

   Watch out: Take the buyer's address from their identification during the sale, not from a text message afterwards. This is the address the division may need to pursue.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Sign, date, and mail to the Sold Unit

   Your signature above the perjury warning, then into an envelope addressed exactly as the form prints it: Attn: Sold Unit, P.O. Box 1028, Santa Fe.

   Watch out: No deadline is printed, which cuts both ways - nothing is late, and nothing is protecting you until it arrives. Same-week mailing is the habit that makes the form worth filing.

What gets this one rejected

• •A vehicle description too thin to match a record. The Sold Unit works from the VIN; a notice with the plate alone identifies a plate, which by now is off the car and in your garage.
• •The plate question left blank. It is the one compliance question on the sheet, and an unanswered box reads as a plate still travelling on a sold vehicle.
• •A mileage that contradicts the certified disclosure. This figure should be the same number you signed for on the assignment - it is a restatement, not a fresh estimate.
• •Filed instead of the buyer's title work. The notice updates your side of the record; it does not transfer title, and it does not excuse the buyer's application.
• •Sent to a field office window. The form names its own destination - the Sold Unit's post box in Santa Fe - and a notice handed elsewhere is a notice in transit indefinitely.
• •Signed casually. The perjury warning printed above the signature grades a false statement here a fourth degree felony; the date of sale and the plate answer are the two entries most worth getting exactly right.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •No deadline is printed, so speed is self-interest. Unlike the plate's 30-day clock, the notice carries no stated deadline. Every day between handover and filing is a day the record still reads as yours - mail it the same week.
• •Keep a copy. The notice is your evidence of when possession ended. A photograph of the completed, signed sheet costs nothing and outlives the postal system's memory.

Every line here was read off MVD-10048 (Rev 08/14) itself — the PDF is here — and off the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, Motor Vehicle Division pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.

Back to all New Mexico seller paperwork, or what selling a car in New Mexico involves.