Once you get a bike, the first steps are:
- transfer the title from the previous owner into your name
- register your bike and get your plates (now is the time to consider vanity plates… if you like)
You can do this in a couple of ways:
- go down to the Secretary of State and walk everything through personally
- go to a Currency Exchange and pay them them to file all the paperwork
Either way, information about the process can be found on the Secretary of State site, found here.
License Plate Registration (variable renewal date):
The license plate in the picture shows proper IL state registration. That fancy green sticker on the right of the plate changes colors each year and shows that your plate registration is current. It expires each year on the month you registered your bike. After you register your bike the first time, you’ll only need to update the registration every year. When it’s time to renew your registration, the Secretary of State will send a renewal notice (they may only do this via email now, so watch for it) with a Registration ID and PIN. You can renew your plates online here. When you renew your plates, they’ll send you a little reflective sticker with the month and year that it expires. Just put that little baby on your plate each year and you’re good to go with the state of IL! We recommend using a knife to “score” the sticker once applied to make it hard for would-be thieves to peel it off easily.
