§ 66-3-1 — Vehicles subject to registration; exceptions

A. With the exception of vehicles identified in Subsection B of this section, every motor vehicle, manufactured home, trailer, semitrailer and pole trailer when driven or moved upon a highway and every off-highway motor vehicle is subject to the registration and certificate of title provisions of the Motor Vehicle Code except: (1) any such vehicle driven or moved upon a highway in conformance with the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Code relating to manufacturers, dealers, lien-holders or nonresidents; (2) any such vehicle that is driven or moved upon a highway only for the purpose of crossing the highway from one property to another; (3) an implement of husbandry that is only incidentally operated or moved upon a highway; (4) special mobile equipment; (5) a vehicle that is propelled exclusively by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires though not operated upon rails; (6) a freight trailer if it is: (a) properly registered in another state; (b) identified by a proper base registration plate that is properly displayed; and (c) identified by other registration documents that are in the possession of the operator and exhibited at the request of a police officer; (7) a freight trailer or utility trailer owned and used by: (a) a nonresident solely for the transportation of farm products purchased by the nonresident from growers or producers of the farm products and transported in the trailer out of the state; (b) a farmer or a rancher who transports to market only the produce, animals or fowl produced by that farmer or rancher or who transports back to the farm or ranch supplies for use thereon; or (c) a person who transports animals to and from fairs, rodeos or other places, except racetracks, where the animals are exhibited or otherwise take part in performances, in trailers drawn by a motor vehicle or truck of less than ten thousand pounds gross vehicle weight rating bearing a proper registration plate, but in no case shall the owner of an unregistered trailer described in this paragraph perform such uses for hire; (8) a moped; (9) an electric personal assistive mobility device; (10) a vehicle moved on a highway by a towing service as defined in Section 59A-50-2 NMSA 1978; (11) an off-highway motor vehicle exempted pursuant to Section 66-3-1005 NMSA 1978; and (12) an electric-assisted bicycle. B. A certificate of title required pursuant to Subsection A of this section is not required for a vehicle of a type subject to registration owned by: (1) the government of the United States; or (2) a carrier that is from a jurisdiction that is not a participant in the International Fuel Tax Agreement, that is authorized by the United States government or an agency of the United States government to conduct cross-border operations beyond the commercial border zone pursuant to the provisions of the United States- Mexico-Canada Agreement and that identifies New Mexico as the carrier's base jurisdiction. C. A person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a penalty assessment misdemeanor. A person charged with violating this section shall not be convicted if the person produces, in court, evidence of compliance valid at the time of issuance of the citation.

Legislative History

1953 Comp., § 64-3-1, enacted by Laws 1978, ch. 35, § 21; 1999, ch. 227, § 1;