As used in the Motor Vehicle Quality Assurance Act:
A. "collateral charges" means additional charges to a consumer not directly attributed to a manufacturer's suggested retail price label for a new motor vehicle and includes all taxes, license, title and registration fees and other governmental charges related to the purchase of the vehicle;
B. "comparable motor vehicle" means an identical or reasonably equivalent motor vehicle;
C. "consumer" means the purchaser, other than for purposes of resale, of a new or used motor vehicle normally used for personal, family or household purposes, a person to whom such a motor vehicle has been transferred during the duration of an express warranty applicable to the motor vehicle and any other person entitled by the terms of the warranty to enforce the obligations of the warranty;
D. "express warranty" means a written affirmation of the fact of promise made by a manufacturer to a consumer in connection with the sale of a new or used motor vehicle that relates to the nature of the material or workmanship or to a specified level of performance over a specified period of time, including any terms or conditions precedent to the enforcement of obligations pursuant to the warranty;
E. "manufacturer" means a person engaged in the manufacturing, assembling, importing or distributing of a motor vehicle as a regular business;
F. "motor vehicle" means a passenger motor vehicle, including an automobile, pickup truck, motorcycle or van normally used for personal, family or household purposes, that is sold and registered in this state and whose gross vehicle weight is less than ten thousand pounds;
G. "used motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle that has been sold, bargained or exchanged or a motor vehicle that is the subject of a title that has been transferred from the person who first acquired the motor vehicle from the manufacturer, importer or dealer or agent of the manufacturer or importer and that has been placed in bona fide consumer use; and
H. "used motor vehicle dealer" means a person or business that sells or offers for sale a used motor vehicle after selling or offering for sale four or more used motor vehicles in the previous twelve months but does not include:
(1) a bank or financial institution;
(2) an insurance company;
(3) a business selling a used motor vehicle to an employee of the business; or
(4) a lessor selling a leased vehicle to the lessee of the vehicle or to an employee of the lessee of the vehicle.
History: Laws 1985, ch. 220, § 2; 2003, ch. 216, § 1.
ANNOTATIONSThe 2003 amendment, effective January 1, 2004, inserted "or used" following "new" near the beginning of Subsection C; inserted "or used" following "new" near the middle of Subsection D; and added Subsections G and H.
"Consumer" construed. — A person is not a "consumer" entitled to recovery under the Motor Vehicle Quality Assurance Act unless he or she uses the vehicle for personal, family, or household purposes. Jones v. GMC, 1998-NMCA-020, 124 N.M. 606, 953 P.2d 1104.