Sell your car in New Mexico: plates off, sold notice to the MVD
New Mexico makes private car sales simpler than most states: no notary on the title, no statewide safety inspection, and a free one-page notice that puts the sale on the MVD's record. The quirks are real but manageable — your plate stays with you, not the car, and a car headed for registration in Bernalillo County (metro Albuquerque) needs an emissions test when it changes hands. Here's the whole picture.
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Albuquerque, the busiest city here, sits in Bernalillo County, the one county where a change of ownership means an emissions test for the buyer; our Albuquerque page covers selling there. The steps below apply everywhere in New Mexico.
How to sell a car in New Mexico
- 01Find the original title; a photocopy won't do. The MVD won't accept a photocopy for any title transaction, so find your New Mexico Certificate of Title before you list the car. Lost it? Only the registered owner can apply for the $5.00 duplicate on MVD-10901, at an MVD field office or by mail to Santa Fe, and the duplicate voids the old one. Then read the word between two owners' names: "or" sells on one signature; "and", or "and/or" on an older title, means every owner signs.
- 02Get any lien released one of three ways. A New Mexico title won't move with a lien still on it. Your lender can sign the release section on the certificate, fill in a Release of Lien (MVD-10041), or give you a notarized release on its letterhead. If your buyer is taking over the loan instead, you need the Change of Equity Certification (MVD-10044), a three-way agreement with the lender, not a release.
- 03Fill in the assignment with one pen. On the title's assignment (most New Mexico titles carry it on the back), write the buyer's name and address, the price, the date and the mileage in whole miles, no tenths, then tick one box: AM, EL or NM. Federal law still requires the reading on any 2011 or newer car. Sign and print your name; the buyer signs the odometer certification too. No notary. Don't erase, cross out or switch ink: the clerk rejects altered paperwork, and a mistake takes a notarized Affidavit of Correction (MVD-10019) that you sign.
- 04Add the Bill of Sale only if the title falls short. A New Mexico bill of sale is conditional: the MVD-10009 is needed when the assignment is missing the price, the odometer statement or a signature, or when every reassignment on the title is used up. If the buyer brings their title application (MVD-10002), sign its odometer block before they leave, because they can't finish that block without you.
- 05Pull your plate: New Mexico is Vehicle Plate to Owner. The plate is yours, and removing it before the buyer takes the car is your job (the Bill of Sale says so in capitals). Within 30 days, take it to the MVD to be destroyed or have it assigned to another vehicle of the same class. A passenger-car plate can't go on a pickup registered in a truck class. The buyer gets a plate at their own MVD visit.
- 06Mail the Notice of Vehicle Sold to the Sold Unit. Send the Notice of Vehicle Sold (MVD-10048) by post to the MVD's Sold Unit in Santa Fe as soon as the buyer leaves. No deadline is printed on it, but until it arrives nothing in the MVD's records shows the car as sold. It doesn't cancel your registration or your insurance, so call your insurer once the plate is dealt with.
- 07The buyer pays the 4% excise tax at an MVD field office. The New Mexico title transfer happens at an MVD field office; some are run by the state, some by counties, cities or licensed MVD Partners. Within 30 days, the buyer brings your signed title, their application, proof of insurance, one ID and two proofs of New Mexico residency, plus an emissions certificate if the car will be registered in, or commute into, Bernalillo County, and pays the 4% excise tax there. If the price is under 80% of the N.A.D.A. average trade-in value, the tax is figured on book value instead. After 30 days a $20.00 late transfer fee applies, and at 90 days the tax goes up by half.
Rather not list the car at all? You can get an instant cash offer here instead. Checked against the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division in August 2026.
What New Mexico requires when you sell
| Notary | Not required for the sale itself — the title assignment is signed, never notarized. Notaries only enter for side paperwork: a power of attorney, a lien release on company letterhead, or the Affidavit of Gift (MVD-10018). |
|---|---|
| The title form | Ownership moves via the assignment on the back of the New Mexico Certificate of Title (MVD-10030): purchase price, odometer disclosure, both signatures. If that section is incomplete or out of room, the state Bill of Sale (MVD-10009) finishes the job, and MVD-10187 is the standalone odometer statement. A mistake in it is never erased: it takes a notarized Affidavit of Correction (MVD-10019). |
| Bill of sale | Only when the title falls short. New Mexico's official Bill of Sale (MVD-10009) is needed when the assignment on the title is missing the price, the odometer statement or a signature, or when every reassignment on it is used up (MVD-10009). It takes plain signatures, no notary, and voids itself if anything on it is erased or altered. How to fill in the MVD-10009. |
| Lost your title? | File the Application for Duplicate Certificate of Title (MVD-10901) — the fee is $5.00 for a vehicle. Any MVD field office can issue one in state; by mail it goes to the Vehicle Services Bureau in Santa Fe with photocopies of your license and current registration. A lien still on record sends the duplicate to the lienholder instead. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | Mail the Notice of Vehicle Sold (MVD-10048) — the notification required by Section 66-3-101(A) NMSA 1978 — to the MVD's Sold Unit in Santa Fe. It records the buyer, sale date, and odometer, costs nothing, and false statements on it are fourth-degree-felony perjury, so it protects honest sellers with teeth. |
| License plates | New Mexico is officially a Vehicle Plate to Owner state. Take your plate off before the buyer leaves, then you have 30 days to have MVD assign it to another vehicle of the same class or turn it in to be cancelled. |
| Sales tax | The buyer pays the 4% Motor Vehicle Excise Tax when they title the car, on price paid minus any trade-in credit. On private sales, MVD substitutes N.A.D.A. book value when the declared price falls below 80% of average trade-in — and a buyer who waits past 90 days to title pays a 50% penalty on the tax. |
| Inspections | Only Bernalillo County — metro Albuquerque — tests emissions: vehicles under 35 years old up to 10,000 lbs GVW, diesels and ordinary hybrids included, every two years and at change of ownership, when the car will be registered in the county or commute into it 60 or more days a year. Dedicated EVs, vehicles 35 or older and new vehicles in their first four years are exempt. Separately, any used vehicle arriving on an out-of-state title needs a one-time VIN inspection before New Mexico will title it. |
Form numbers and fees verified against the New Mexico MVD's vehicle titles page as of August 2026 — double-check there before you file anything, since Santa Fe does occasionally move the furniture.
No notary needed here, unlike a handful of states; a replacement title runs $5 — compare all fifty; what protects you after handoff; selling when the title is gone; or price the New Mexico transfer in the fee calculator.
Asked by New Mexico sellers
Do I need a notary to sell a car in New Mexico?
No. The seller-to-buyer assignment on the back of the title is signed, not notarized. A notary only comes into play for related documents — a power of attorney, a lien release on a lender's letterhead, or the notarized Affidavit of Gift if you're giving the car away rather than selling it.
What do I do with my license plate after the sale?
Keep it — in New Mexico the plate belongs to you, not the car. Pull it before the buyer drives away, then within 30 days either have MVD assign it to another vehicle of the same class or take it in to be cancelled.
Who pays the 4% excise tax on a private sale?
The buyer, when they apply for the title. Be aware that MVD checks the declared price: anything under 80% of N.A.D.A. average trade-in value gets taxed at book value instead, so writing a token price on the assignment saves nobody money.
How do I stop being liable for a car I've sold?
Mail form MVD-10048, the Notice of Vehicle Sold, to the MVD's Sold Unit in Santa Fe. It's free, takes five minutes, and puts the buyer's name, the sale date, and the odometer reading on state record — your paper trail if the car collects tickets or worse afterward.