The cost of Illinois vanity license plates starts at $245 the first year for a vehicle already titled in the state: a $151 base registration fee plus a one-time $94 personalization surcharge. After that, vanity plates renew for $164 a year, and personalized plates (which mix letters and numbers) renew for $158.1Illinois Secretary of State. Fees
What You Pay Upfront
The $94 surcharge is added on top of your standard passenger registration fee of $151, so a car already titled in Illinois costs $245 the first time you order custom plates. If you’re titling the vehicle at the same time, add the $165 title fee, bringing the combined total to $410.2Illinois Secretary of State. Passenger License Plates
The $94 surcharge is non-refundable. If the Secretary of State’s office rejects your combination or you make a mistake on the form, you don’t get that money back automatically, so it’s worth checking your combination against the content rules and verifying availability before you pay.
What You Pay Every Year After
Renewal is where vanity and personalized plates split. Vanity plates (letters only, or numbers only) carry a $13 annual surcharge, making the renewal $164 total. Personalized plates (a mix of letters and numbers) carry a $7 annual surcharge, for a $158 renewal.1Illinois Secretary of State. Fees
Miss the renewal and you can lose the combination. Getting it back means reapplying and paying the full $94 surcharge again, assuming no one else has claimed it in the meantime.
Vanity or Personalized: Why It Matters for Cost
Illinois treats these as two separate products. Vanity plates display one to seven letters, or one to three numbers, with no mixing. Personalized plates combine letters and numbers in formats set by statute for each vehicle class.3Illinois General Assembly. 625 ILCS 5/3-405.1 – Application for Vanity and Personalized License Plates The initial $94 surcharge is the same for both. The renewal surcharge is not: vanity costs $6 more per year than personalized. Over a decade, that’s a $60 difference, which may steer your choice if your desired message works in either format.
Both are available for passenger cars, lighter commercial vehicles, trailers, funeral home vehicles, electric vehicles, and recreational vehicles. Leased vehicles are eligible.
Transferring Plates Is Cheaper Than Reapplying
If you sell your car or buy a new one, you can move your custom plates to the new vehicle for a $25 transfer fee, or $190 if you’re also titling the new vehicle ($165 title plus $25 transfer).4Illinois Secretary of State. Transferring Plates Letting the plates lapse and reapplying later costs the full $94 surcharge again, plus the risk that your combination is gone.
What Can Get Your $94 Wasted
The Secretary of State reviews every application and denies combinations that, in the office’s judgment, interfere with law enforcement, are misleading, or are offensive to good taste and decency. The last category is broad. It covers vulgar, profane, or obscene references; derogatory references to any group based on race, nationality, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or religion; references to illegal drugs or drug paraphernalia; sexual terms and body parts; and references to criminal acts or violence.5Illinois General Assembly. 92 Illinois Administrative Code 1010 – Certificates of Title, Registration of Vehicles
Reviewers also evaluate phonetic tricks, reversed readings, upside-down interpretations, foreign-language translations, and slang. If it reads as offensive when sounded out or viewed from any angle, it will be rejected. The plates themselves also cannot contain symbols (other than the accessibility symbol on disability plates), foreign words, or punctuation.3Illinois General Assembly. 625 ILCS 5/3-405.1 – Application for Vanity and Personalized License Plates
Before paying, check availability through the Secretary of State’s Pick-a-Plate tool, which flags combinations already in use.6Illinois Secretary of State. Pick-A-Plate Availability doesn’t guarantee approval, but it eliminates the most common reason applications fail. Review and manufacturing typically takes four to six weeks.7Illinois Secretary of State. Frequently Asked Questions
If You’re Denied
You can either submit a different combination or appeal in writing within 30 days of the denial notice. The denial letter includes the mailing address. A written appeal should address the specific restriction the reviewer cited and explain why it doesn’t apply.8Illinois General Assembly. 92 Illinois Administrative Code 1010 – Certificates of Title, Registration of Vehicles – Section: Application Denial Process Reversals happen, but they aren’t common. The same 30-day appeal window applies if the Secretary later revokes plates that were already issued.