New Mexico Consumer Protection Laws: Lemon Law, Refunds, Repairs and Scams

New Mexico's Motor Vehicle Quality Assurance Act covers passenger vehicles—including cars, pickup trucks, motorcycles and vans—with a gross vehicle weight under 10,000 pounds, normally used for personal, family or household purposes, and sold and registered in New Mexico. The protection period is the express warranty term or one year from original delivery, whichever ends first. A reasonable number of repair attempts is presumed if the same defect has been repaired four or more times and still exists, or the vehicle has been in repair for a total of 30 or more business days during that period. The presumption applies only if the consumer has given the manufacturer prior direct written notice and a chance to fix the defect. If a defect that substantially impairs the vehicle cannot be fixed, the manufacturer must replace it with a comparable vehicle or refund the full purchase price, including collateral charges, minus a reasonable allowance for the consumer's use.

A used car dealer may not exclude, modify or disclaim the implied warranty of merchantability. The vehicle must work substantially free of a defect that significantly limits its use for ordinary highway transportation until midnight of the 15th calendar day after delivery or for 500 miles, whichever comes first. The buyer must notify the seller within 30 days of the problem and give a reasonable chance to repair; the buyer pays half the cost of the first two repairs, up to $25 per repair. The dealer's sales agreement must include a boldface statement of this warranty or it is voidable by the buyer. A buyer may waive the warranty only for a specific defect that the dealer fully discloses, by signing a boldface waiver on the first page of the sales agreement. Damage from off-road use, racing, towing, abuse, neglect or lack of maintenance after the sale is not covered.

For door-to-door sales of consumer goods or services with a purchase price of $25 or more, where the seller personally solicits the sale and the buyer agrees to it somewhere other than the seller's place of business, the buyer may cancel at any time before midnight of the third business day after the transaction. The seller must give a receipt or contract with a cancellation notice and a "Notice of Cancellation" form, tell the buyer orally about the right to cancel, and refund payments, return trade-ins and cancel security interests within ten business days after a valid cancellation. Some transactions are excluded, such as real property, insurance, securities, certain buyer-requested repairs and some emergency purchases.

The New Mexico Unfair Practices Act (NMSA 1978, § 57-12-1 et seq.) prohibits unfair or deceptive trade practices and unconscionable trade practices. Consumers can sue: a person who loses money or property because of a violation may recover actual damages or $100, whichever is greater, and if the practice was willful the court may award up to three times actual damages or $300, whichever is greater. A winning consumer is awarded attorney fees and costs (fees can be awarded against a consumer whose case was groundless). Injunctions and class actions are also available.

The New Mexico Department of Justice treats emergency price gouging under the Unfair Practices Act, which prohibits unconscionable business practices such as exploiting consumers during an emergency. The Act defines an unconscionable trade practice to include one that takes advantage of a person's lack of knowledge, ability, experience or capacity to a grossly unfair degree, or results in a gross disparity between the value received and the price paid. The Department has sent cease-and-desist letters over alleged wildfire-related hotel price gouging and asks the public to report suspected gouging.

The Construction Industries Division of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department licenses contractors and requires licensure for any person practicing or offering to practice construction contracting. The Division tells consumers to verify that a contractor holds a valid license before hiring.

Under the Data Breach Notification Act, a person that owns or licenses personal identifying information of New Mexico residents must notify affected residents in the most expedient time possible, but no later than 45 calendar days after discovering a security breach, unless an appropriate investigation finds the breach does not create a significant risk of identity theft or fraud. Service providers must notify the data owner within the same time. If more than 1,000 New Mexico residents must be notified for a single breach, the Attorney General and the major consumer reporting agencies must also be notified within 45 calendar days. A separate section allows delay in certain circumstances (such as law enforcement requests).

The New Mexico Department of Justice accepts consumer complaints and tips through a Guided Help tool, an electronic complaint and tip system, or a paper complaint form (English or Spanish) returned to one of its offices. The Department's auto-purchasing guide suggests that car buyers first complain to the Motor Vehicle Division and the dealers association's AUTOCAP program, then to the Department.

1) Report the problem: the consumer must report the defect to the manufacturer, its agent or an authorized dealer during the express warranty term or within one year after original delivery, whichever ends first. 2) Written notice: the presumption that the manufacturer had a reasonable number of repair attempts does not apply unless the manufacturer first received direct written notice from or on behalf of the consumer and had a chance to fix the defect. The manufacturer must tell the consumer about this written-notice requirement in the warranty or a separate notice. 3) Arbitration: if the manufacturer has or takes part in a fair and impartial informal dispute settlement procedure that substantially complies with federal rules (16 C.F.R. part 703), the consumer must use it first before the refund-or-replacement remedy applies. The state Attorney General may investigate and decide whether such a procedure qualifies. The law does not create a state-run arbitration program or set a consumer fee. 4) Deadline to sue: a lawsuit under the Motor Vehicle Quality Assurance Act must be filed within 18 months after original delivery, or, if the consumer used the manufacturer's informal dispute procedure, within 90 days after the panel's final action, whichever is later.