2018 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 66 - Motor Vehicles
Article 5 - Licensing of Operators and Chauffeurs; Financial Responsibility; Uninsured Motorists' Insurance; Identification Cards
Section 66-5-206 - Registration without insurance or evidence of financial responsibility prohibited; suspension required.
A. The department shall not issue or renew the registration for any motor vehicle not covered by a motor vehicle insurance policy or by evidence of financial responsibility currently valid meeting the requirements of the laws of New Mexico and of the secretary, unless specifically exempted from the Mandatory Financial Responsibility Act.
B. Upon a showing by its records or other sufficient evidence that the required insurance or evidence of financial responsibility has not been provided or maintained for a motor vehicle, the department shall suspend its registration of the motor vehicle.
History: 1978 Comp., § 66-5-206, enacted by Laws 1983, ch. 318, § 7; 1998, ch. 34, § 7.
Recompilations. — Laws 1983, ch. 318, § 7, recompiled former 66-5-206 NMSA 1978, relating to the meaning of "proof of financial responsibility for the future," as 66-5-208 NMSA 1978, effective January 1, 1984.
The 1998 amendment, effective July 1, 1998, substituted "department" for "division" throughout the section; and in Subsection A, substituted 'insurance" for "liability policy or a certified motor vehicle liability" following "a motor vehicle" and "secretary" for "director" near the end.
Automatic suspension provisions constitutional. — Provisions which provided for the automatic suspension of the license and vehicle registration of any person involved in an accident unless the person furnished proof of financial responsibility and deposited security with the state's division of motor vehicles without a prior determination of fault was not violative of due process of law in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States constitution but was a reasonable method of advancing the legislative purpose, and could not be attacked for over-breadth. Trujillo v. DeBaca, 320 F. Supp. 1038 (D.N.M. 1970).
