License Plates in IL

lisa66emberglow · 02-10-2012, 01:04 PM

for those of you that may be in Illinois.....how many of you have Antique Auto plates (which are cheaper) and occasionally drive your car to work and stuff..... I was advised that if I were to use the car for more than driving it to and from a garage or storage or a car show, that I should get regular plates.......what about in between......i am thinking about the antique ones for budget reasons.....

slim · 02-10-2012, 02:08 PM

Do you have collector plates in Illinois? In Wisconsin you can get collector plates. Only limitation no regular every day driving in January.

Buy the plate when the car is 20 years old and never again buy a plate! The fee is twice the regular fee but lasts for as long as you own the vehicle. You must also have a regular licensed vehicle. The base number may be used for additional collector vehicles. I have the base number, same with A and third with B. It's a good deal if you tend to keep a car for several years.

Slim

t.klapperich · 02-10-2012, 03:08 PM

I have the antique plates on my 73 Mach 1, and they are meant for only driving to and from shows, or to and from the auto shop. With that being said, I have never heard of anyone actually recieving a ticket while driving outside of those rules. I would think a police officer may add that violation to a speeding ticket, but I don't know of anyone being pulled over for just having those plates on outside of the intended usage.

slim · 02-10-2012, 03:28 PM

In Illinois they don't notice you unless you're going over 90 in the 70 zone right? I used to live in Arlington Heights!

Jims68GTCS · 02-10-2012, 04:25 PM

If you're out for a joy ride and you get pulled over all you have to say is you did some engine work / adjustments and are out test driving it or you're out getting gas.

I think you are pushing your luck if you take it to work or the grocery store. Keep in mind the state and most cities are broke and the cops at all levels are being pushed to write tickets to generate revenue.

Leon Narozny · 02-10-2012, 08:01 PM

Jim68GTCS is spot on! In MI the state gets 50% of EVERY ticket issued in the state!
I have regular plates that are personalized with the build date of my 64.5.
In MI you can register a 1965 plate to your car, but the antique restrictions
apply. I think this really looks great,I wish they would allow regular usage with
a vintage plate, for the regular registration fee....they dont.
I have a 65 plate on the front of my car...the prefix is my initials!

Heap64 · 02-10-2012, 08:32 PM

Probably depends on where you live. I have vanity plates on mine and after seeing 6 or more cars parked at work with vintage plates on nice days I am strongly considering changing mine. Then I want to run '68 plates.

rickgto · 02-10-2012, 09:06 PM

Getting a ticket isn't the biggest concern in Illinois driving on collector plates. Biggest concern would be how limited you are by whatever insurance company you use with having antique/collector plates on the car. Most all limit yearly mileage as well as when you can drive the car with anything other than normal plates. Lot's of grey area with most insurance companies on a collector plated car vs a normal or vanity plated car. Sure, plates are cheaper but in the long run it just isn't worth the limits. And possibly the refusal of coverage if "they" feel the car was being used outside of it's status. Talk to your insurance company and then decide what plates you want.

slim · 02-10-2012, 09:21 PM

With my insurance the miles per year is stated on the policy. When I had 3 cars with collector plates one was my daily drive to work car over 10,000/yr. Other two were occasional drivers. Yes the cost/yr of the policy reflected that.

rdlagray · 02-10-2012, 10:01 PM

In Virginia I have my 65 plates on my fastback registered for general use. You just have to run the yearly stickers. I've attached a separate metal plate to put the stickers on. I don't want to be limited to how I drive my car. I also carry regular insurance with an appraisal but it probably doesn't cover for what I have it appraised for. Never know until you need it I guess.

freemonty · 02-10-2012, 10:31 PM

Hi Lisa, since I just plated my mustang in Illinois in October I can give you my experience. I went with the antique plates for two main reasons: the first is the cost, I believe it's $25 for 5 years versus about $79/ year. The second is that with the antique plates there is a rule that you can keep "plates indicating the original model year" on the car as long as you keep the true plates in the car. So since I've got the original black cali plates, I wanted to keep those on there since they look so good.

I definitely drive the car more than to and from shows, so I'm probably pushing my luck, but if you look at it from a purely cost standpoint, one ticket is probably $75-$100 so that's the cost of 1 year of normal registration! Also, I think you'd have to have really bad luck or just be driving like an idiot to get pulled over and get a ticket for abusing your plates. Especially in Chicago.

As far as insurance, my company didn't have mileage limitations, they just asked for a yearly estimate and I gave them a correct one. Even though I drive it to more than shows and the garage, it's still only going to be a few thousand miles a year because of the weather.

One last thing, I read somewhere (maybe on this forum) that Illinois was putting through a bill to have an intermediate antique plate that allows you to drive it more during summer months. Don't know what the status is on that as of now.

Hope this helps!

Shoelessjoe75 · 02-11-2012, 02:03 AM

Being a cop in Illinois I would go with the Antique plates. You would be hard pressed to find a cop to write you a ticket just for the plate violation. The only way you would probably be written that ticket would be if you were getting multiple tickets.

fstbk1968 · 02-13-2012, 12:00 PM

I run antique plates and have never had an issue. Like the others have said, you won't get pulled over just for using them; the intent being that your older vehicle is not your daily driver and is only driven occassionally. A couple of perks, beside the reduced plate cost, vehicles with antique plates are exempt from emissions testing (me and fellas at the EPA testing station had some issues over the required testing for my '68) and since there are far fewer antique plates issued, it's easier to get a vanity number of your choosing. see my plate below:

buening · 02-13-2012, 12:22 PM

Antique plates on my Mach and I drive it everywhere on nice days. No issues with tickets and no issues with insurance. I have State Farm and just have the insurance set to an agreed value that I estimated from what it is worth. No mileage restrictions. I think I pay about $160/yr with $25k agreed value (multi-car discount).

Explorer · 02-13-2012, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rdlagray

In Virginia I have my 65 plates on my fastback registered for general use. You just have to run the yearly stickers. I've attached a separate metal plate to put the stickers on. I don't want to be limited to how I drive my car. I also carry regular insurance with an appraisal but it probably doesn't cover for what I have it appraised for. Never know until you need it I guess.

Plenty of options in VA. Vintage. antique, personalized, all with diff rules. I quit running vintage tags due to the restrictions. Cops aren't blind, they notice old vehicles and remember when they seen them. It's been so abused here they have tightened up on enforcement and registration. Vintage doesn't require annual inspection either, but must pass if stopped. Use your own judgement per your state laws.