Illinois license plates belong to you rather than to the vehicle, so when you replace a car you can move your existing plates to the new one for a $25 fee instead of paying for a fresh set. Transferring license plates in Illinois is handled through the Secretary of State’s office using a single form, and keeping your current number saves you the trouble of updating insurance records and toll accounts. Most transfers are straightforward, but family reassignments, surviving spouses, and specialty plates each follow their own rules.
Who Can Transfer Plates
Only the registered owner can transfer plates, and only to a vehicle titled in that same owner’s name. You cannot hand plates to the buyer when you sell a car, and you cannot pass them to a friend. If you’re not putting them on a replacement vehicle, return them to the Secretary of State.1Illinois Secretary of State. Transferring Plates
The plate type has to match the new vehicle type. Passenger plates go on passenger vehicles. Moving a sedan’s plates to a pickup you drive personally is fine; moving them to a vehicle registered as commercial is not.
How to File the Transfer
Complete the Application for Vehicle Transaction(s), form VSD 190. The Secretary of State’s Electronic Registration and Title (ERT) system lets you fill in and print the form online, but a transfer-only transaction cannot be submitted electronically. You bring the completed form to a Secretary of State facility in person, or you can call 800-252-8980 to request the form by mail.1Illinois Secretary of State. Transferring Plates
On the form, check “Transfer” if you’re only moving plates, or “Title and Transfer” if you’re titling a newly acquired vehicle at the same time. Bring the title for the new vehicle, your current registration card, and proof of insurance. If you’re titling and transferring together, the title for the vehicle you’re selling or trading must already be properly assigned to its new owner.2Illinois Secretary of State. Apply for Title and Registration
After processing, you’ll receive an updated registration card showing the plate on its new vehicle. If the facility can’t issue your registration materials the same day, staff may give you a Temporary Registration Permit so you can drive in the meantime.
What It Costs
A transfer-only transaction is $25. If you’re also titling a new vehicle, the combined title-and-transfer fee is higher because the standard title fee is added on top of the $25 transfer charge.1Illinois Secretary of State. Transferring Plates
The $25 covers only the plate swap. Your annual registration fee, currently $151 for a standard passenger vehicle, continues on its existing cycle. If you’re transferring plates onto an electric vehicle, the $100 annual EV registration surcharge also applies on top of the $151 base fee.
Reassigning Plates to a Spouse or Child
Illinois waives the transfer fee for reassignments within a household. If you want to move your plate to your spouse, both of you sign a form authorizing the reassignment and no transfer fee is charged. The same waiver applies when you reassign a plate to your child.3FindLaw. Illinois Statutes Chapter 625 Vehicles 5/3-421 – Right of Reassignment
The waiver covers vanity and personalized plate fees too, so specialty plates can move between spouses or from a parent to a child at no charge.3FindLaw. Illinois Statutes Chapter 625 Vehicles 5/3-421 – Right of Reassignment
After a Spouse’s Death
When a vehicle owner dies, the surviving spouse doesn’t have to pay new registration fees right away. The existing registration remains valid until it expires on its normal schedule. What you do with the title depends on how it was held.4Illinois General Assembly. Transferring Certificates of Title Upon the Owner’s Death
If both spouses were listed as joint tenants on the title, the survivor submits a death certificate, surrenders the original title, and applies for a corrected title dropping the deceased spouse’s name. The fees are small: a $3 title correction fee and, if applicable, a $2 registration correction fee.4Illinois General Assembly. Transferring Certificates of Title Upon the Owner’s Death
If the title was held only in the deceased spouse’s name, the survivor has to go through probate, a Small Estate Affidavit, or an Attorney’s Affidavit. Each path still requires the $3 title fee and proof of compliance with the Vehicle Use Tax. For deaths on or after September 16, 1985, a death certificate must accompany any Small Estate Affidavit filing.4Illinois General Assembly. Transferring Certificates of Title Upon the Owner’s Death
Specialty, Military, and Antique Plates
Some plates carry restrictions that the standard transfer rules don’t reach. Medal of Honor plates cannot be retained by a surviving spouse after the honoree’s death. United Nations Protection Force plates are more restrictive still: if the holder leaves Illinois or no longer qualifies, the plates come off the vehicle and go back to the Secretary of State, and they cannot be transferred to anyone else.5Illinois General Assembly. 625 ILCS 5/ Illinois Vehicle Code
Gold Star plates work differently and are available to a broader group of surviving family members, including parents, children, stepchildren, siblings, and half-siblings of a service member who died in the line of duty.5Illinois General Assembly. 625 ILCS 5/ Illinois Vehicle Code
Antique plates can transfer to another vehicle, but only if the receiving vehicle independently qualifies as an antique under Illinois law. The plate’s classification has to match the new vehicle’s classification.
Temporary Registration Permits
If your permanent registration materials aren’t issued at the counter, you’ll receive a Temporary Registration Permit valid for up to 90 days, though the Secretary of State can shorten or extend that window. Attach it to the rear of the vehicle where the plate would normally sit.6Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Temporary Permit Pending Registration In Illinois
Once your plate and stickers arrive, the temporary permit is void. Remove it and mount the permanent plate. The permit is tied to you and to that specific vehicle, so it cannot be moved to another car or lent to anyone else.6Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Temporary Permit Pending Registration In Illinois
Penalties for Driving on Improper Registration
Operating a vehicle that isn’t properly registered in Illinois is a Class A misdemeanor, the most serious misdemeanor class in the state, carrying up to 364 days in jail and fines up to $2,500.7Illinois General Assembly. 625 ILCS 5/3-702
If the registration was suspended specifically for failure to buy a municipal vehicle tax sticker, the offense is a business offense instead, with fines between $500 and $1,000.7Illinois General Assembly. 625 ILCS 5/3-702
There are insurance consequences too. If a vehicle isn’t properly registered at the time of an accident, an insurer may dispute coverage. Illinois also imposes a minimum $500 fine for driving without insurance and a $1,000 minimum fine for driving while plates are already suspended for a prior insurance violation.8Illinois Secretary of State. Mandatory Insurance
If you’ve bought a vehicle and can’t get to a Secretary of State facility right away, a Temporary Registration Permit keeps you legal while the transfer processes. The $25 fee is small next to the cost of driving on plates that haven’t been moved onto the right vehicle.