Hold the pickle, not the license? State to offer drive-thru service to renew license plate stickers

The seven locations – three in Chicago — will open next week to provide only the vehicle registration renewal as a way to serve the public and as a test run.

SHARE Hold the pickle, not the license? State to offer drive-thru service to renew license plate stickers
The Illinois Secretary of State’s Chicago West Drivers Service facility, 5301 W. Lexington.

The Illinois Secretary of State’s Chicago West Drivers Service facility, 5301 W. Lexington.

Google Maps

Illinois drivers looking to renew their license plate registration stickers won’t have to leave the car, as the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office is planning to open up seven drive-thru operations “like we’re doing a hamburger and a shake.”

Those seven locations – three of them in Chicago — will open next week to provide only the vehicle registration renewal as a way to serve both the public and as a test run as Secretary of State Jesse White begins to slowly reopen the facilities.

“This is the first step in the process of reopening the office, and we thought this was a good way to go about it, that there really wouldn’t be much direct contact with people,” said Dave Druker, a spokesman for office. “The public would not be coming into a building. It would be a drive-thru, like we’re doing a hamburger and a shake.”

Drivers can access the drive-thru services beginning May 19.

The three Chicago Secretary of State facilities are Chicago North, 5401 N. Elston Ave.; Chicago South, 9901 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive; and Chicago West, 5301 W. Lexington. All three will be open Mondays and Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Tuesday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Drivers will not be allowed to pay in cash.

Drive-thru service will be offered at the facilities in Rockford, Macomb in western Illinois and Tilton in east-central Illinois on Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Wednesday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. to noon.

The Springfield-Dirksen location will be open on Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Secretary of State Jesse White displays the new design for Illinois license plates in 2016.

Secretary of State Jesse White displays the new design for Illinois license plates in 2016.

Andy Grimm/Sun-Times file.

Motorists can still renew their registrations online, but the new drive-thru facilities will serve as an alternative. Secretary of State employees will be required to wear personal protective equipment, and drivers will be encouraged to wear face masks.

The state requires vehicles in the Chicago and Metro East areas to pass an emissions test before drivers can renew their registrations, but the testing sites are closed. So, with emissions tests sites and vehicle services shut down because of the pandemic, people who have expired vehicle registrations have 90 days after vehicle services fully open up again to renew which will likely be around June 1, Druker said.

The Latest
The man suffered head trauma and was pronounced dead at University of Chicago Medical Center, police said.
Another federal judge in Chicago who also has dismissed gun cases based on the same Supreme Court ruling says the high court’s decision in what’s known as the Bruen case will “inevitably lead to more gun violence, more dead citizens and more devastated communities.”
Women make up just 10% of those in careers such as green infrastructure and clean and renewable energy, a leader from Openlands writes. Apprenticeships and other training opportunities are some of the ways to get more women into this growing job sector.
Chatterbox doesn’t seem aware that it’s courteous to ask questions, seek others’ opinions.
The way inflation is measured masks certain costs that add to the prices that consumers pay every day. Not surprisingly, higher costs mean lower consumer confidence, no matter what Americans are told about an improving economy.