What to Do With License Plates and the Chicago City Sticker When Selling a Car

Pull the plates and peel the city sticker on the day the car leaves, not a week before, and keep both. The plates are yours under Illinois rules, and the scraped-off sticker is the ticket to moving your remaining wheel tax to your next car. Doing either too early can cost you a ticket if the car is parked on a Chicago street.

Illinois plates belong to you

The Secretary of State says it plainly: license plates belong to an owner, not to the vehicle, so you can’t hand them over with the car when you sell it or sign over the title. The only place they can go is onto another vehicle you own (Illinois Secretary of State).

To move them, you file an Application for Vehicle Transaction(s), form VSD 190, and include the most recent registration card for that plate number. The same page lists the fees: $25 for a transfer only, or $190 when you’re also titling the new car, which is the $165 title fee plus the $25 transfer. If the old car was registered to two people and the new one will be in one name, the person dropping off has to release their interest with an Affirmation of Correction, form VSD 393.

Keep the registration card from the junk car for that reason. It’s easy to leave it in the glove box with the old insurance cards, and then you’re hunting for a duplicate.

Why the plates can’t ride along to the scrap buyer

Tickets follow the plate. If a car goes off with your plates still on it and somebody parks it badly, the notice comes to the registered owner, which is you. Chicago does let you contest a ticket on the ground that you weren’t the owner at the time of the violation, but that means a hearing request and proof of the sale date. Taking the plates off avoids the whole thing. Our guide to tickets, boots and impounds covers what happens to tickets you already have.

The Chicago city sticker: no refund, but it can move

Here is what catches people. The City Clerk only refunds a city sticker for a duplicate purchase or when the Clerk itself issued a sticker with invalid information (Office of the City Clerk). Selling or junking the car doesn’t qualify.

What you can do is transfer it. When you give up a vehicle and get a different one with a different VIN, the Clerk will move your sticker to the new car if you bring:

• the old sticker, in any condition, even torn in pieces;
• your state registration card for the new vehicle;
• proof of the new vehicle’s purchase date, such as a bill of sale.

The Clerk’s page sets the transfer fee at a minimum of $20 when the license type stays the same, with more due if you move up a class, say from a sedan to an SUV, or if the price has gone up. If the old sticker expires within two months, you pay the renewal at the same time. Dealers, the Department of Finance and outside sellers can’t do transfers; only the Clerk can. And a sticker never transfers between people, so the next owner can’t use yours.

Peeling it off without losing it

A sticker that comes off in shreds still counts, since the Clerk takes it in any condition. Use a razor scraper from the inside of the windshield, save every piece you can, and put them in an envelope with the car’s registration card. Write the old plate number on the envelope. For Southwest Side drivers, the Clerk’s South Side office on Archer Avenue is the closest place to finish the transfer, a short drive from Archer Heights.

Timing: don’t strip a street-parked car early

If the car sits on a Chicago street, leave the plates on until the tow truck is there. The Department of Streets and Sanitation counts a vehicle as abandoned when it’s been on the public way without state registration or a temporary registration placard for two or more days (City of Chicago), and the city’s violation schedule lists $60 for a missing front or rear plate (Department of Finance). A car in a garage or a private driveway gives you more room.

What goes and what stays

Item	Leave it on the car?	What to do with it
License plates	No	Remove at pickup; transfer or ask the Secretary of State about the set
Registration card	No	Keep it for the plate transfer
City sticker	No	Peel it at pickup; take it to the Clerk with your new car’s papers
Title	Goes with the car	Sign it over at pickup
Garage opener, toll transponder, personal papers	No	Check the visors and console

If the title is missing, read our page on cars without a title before pickup day. And if you’re still deciding between junking, trading in and selling privately, the plate and sticker steps above apply to all three; this comparison sets the options next to each other.

Pickup day, start to finish

Get a quote on the offer page or call (872) 356-9663 any day from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. When the truck arrives, you pull the plates, peel the sticker, sign the title and get paid. Our base is on Western Avenue in Gage Park, and the junk car removal page walks through the rest of the visit.