As used in Chapter 56, Article 1 NMSA 1978, unless the context otherwise requires:

A. "goods" means all tangible chattels personal when purchased primarily for personal, family or household use and not for commercial or business use, but not including motor vehicles as defined in this section, money, things in action or intangible personal property other than merchandise certificates or coupons as described in this section. The term includes such chattels which are furnished or used, at the time of sale or subsequently, in the modernization, rehabilitation, repair, alteration, improvement or construction of real property so as to become a part thereof whether or not severable therefrom. The term includes a mobile home, provided such mobile home is not encumbered together with the real estate upon which it is situated. The term also includes merchandise certificates or coupons, issued by a retail seller, not redeemable in cash and to be used in their face amount in lieu of cash, in exchange for goods or services sold by such seller;

B. "services" means work, labor or services of any kind when purchased primarily for personal, family or household use and not for commercial or business use;

C. "motor vehicle" means any automobile, motorcycle, truck, trailer, semi-trailer, truck tractor or bus designed and used primarily to transport persons or property on a public highway or any vehicle designed to run only on rails or tracks or in the air, excepting however, any boat, trailer or any vehicle propelled or drawn exclusively by muscular power;

D. "mobile home" means a structure transportable in one or more sections which is at least eight body feet wide, thirty-two body feet long and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling, with or without a permanent foundation, when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning and electrical systems contained in the structure;

E. "retail buyer" or "buyer" means a person who buys or agrees to buy goods or obtain services or agrees to have services rendered or furnished from a retail seller;

F. "retail seller" or "seller" means a person regularly and principally engaged in the business of selling goods or services to retail buyers but does not include the services of a professional person licensed by the state;

G. "retail installment transaction" means any transaction in which a retail buyer purchases goods or services from a retail seller pursuant to a retail installment contract or a retail charge agreement, as defined in this section, which provides for a time price differential, as defined in this section, and under which the buyer agrees to pay the unpaid balance in one or more installments;

H. "retail installment contract" means an instrument, other than a retail charge agreement or an instrument reflecting a sale made pursuant thereto, entered into in this state evidencing a retail installment transaction whether secured or unsecured. The term retail installment contract may include a chattel mortgage, a security agreement, a conditional sale contract or a contract in the form of bailment or a lease if the bailee or lessee contracts to pay as compensation for its use a sum substantially equivalent to or in excess of the value of the goods sold and if it is agreed that the bailee or lessee is bound to become or for no other or a merely nominal consideration has the option of becoming the owner of the goods upon full compliance with the provisions of the bailment or lease;

I. "retail charge agreement" means an instrument prescribing the terms of retail installment transactions which may be made thereunder from time to time and under the terms of which a time price differential, as defined in this section, is to be computed in relation to the buyer's unpaid balance from time to time and includes any agreement under which a retail buyer uses a credit card for the purchase of goods and services under any credit card plan, whether credit is extended directly or indirectly to the retail buyer, or the obligation is assigned by the retail seller to a credit card issuer or his agent;

J. "time price differential," however denominated or expressed, means the amount which is paid or payable for the privilege of purchasing goods or services to be paid for by the buyer in installments over a period of time. It does not include the amount, if any, charged for insurance premiums, delinquency charges, attorneys' fees, court costs or official fees;

K. "cash sale price" means the price stated in a retail installment contract or in a sales slip or other memorandum furnished by a retail seller to a retail buyer under or in connection with a retail charge agreement, for which the seller would have sold or furnished to the buyer and the buyer would have bought or obtained from the seller the goods or services which are the subject matter of a retail installment transaction, if the sale had been a sale for cash. The cash sale price may include any taxes and charges for delivery, installation, servicing, repairs, alterations or improvements;

L. "official fees" means the amount of the fees prescribed by law for filing, recording or otherwise perfecting and releasing or satisfying a retained title, lien or other security interest created by a retail installment transaction;

M. "time sale price" means the total of the cash sale price of the goods or services and the amount, if any, included for insurance, if a separate identified charge is made therefor, and the official fees and the time price differential;

N. "principal balance" means the cash sale price of the goods or services which are the subject matter of a retail installment contract plus the amounts, if any, included therein, if a separate identified charge is made therefor and stated in the contract, for insurance and official fees, less the amount of the buyer's down payment in money or goods or both;

O. "holder" means the retail seller of the goods or services under the retail installment contract or retail charge agreement or the assignee if the retail installment contract or the retail charge agreement or outstanding balance under either has been sold or otherwise transferred;

P. "person" means an individual, partnership, joint venture, corporation, association or any other group, however organized; and

Q. words of the masculine gender include the feminine and the neuter and, when the sense so indicates, words of the neuter gender may refer to any gender.

History: 1953 Comp., § 50-16-1, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 258, § 1; 1973, ch. 77, § 1; 1983, ch. 315, § 1.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 67 Am. Jur. 2d Sales §§ 6 to 18, 24, 33, 39, 131, 134, 135, 162, 404, 502.

Form of judgment against garnishee respecting obligation payable in installments, 7 A.L.R.2d 680.

Finance or carrying charge on installment sales as includible in amount on which federal excise tax is computed, 33 A.L.R.2d 1450.

Coverage of insurance transactions under state consumer protection statutes, 77 A.L.R.4th 991.

Lease with option to purchase agreement as credit sale or consumer lease under definitions in Truth in Lending Act (15 USCS §§ 1602(g), 1667(1)) and applicable regulations, 58 A.L.R. Fed. 929.

77A C.J.S. Sales § 1 et seq.