Any reason I can't buy a city sticker on craigslist? (Chicago: transfer, living in)

[hindukid]

I totally thought I had til the 31st to get this taken care of. Now I learn of a $40 late fee. I can get one for $50. Owner says they paid for one but decided to sell the car before applying it.

As far as I know they are not tied to a particular plate. Is that correct?

[scarletneon]

they are tied to the plate number now
Office of the Chicago City Clerk -- City Sticker Information

[hindukid]

Thank you. Good thing I asked. Any chance I can avoid this late fee going to currency exchange or jewel or somewhere. These things are probably all tied by computer though.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by supernerdgirl

they are tied to the plate number now
Office of the Chicago City Clerk -- City Sticker Information

They always have been tied to a plate number. Until this year, it was easy enough to simply slap an old sticker on a recently acquired car (if you know the trick to keeping the sticker intact, that is) or to leave the old one in there if you bought the car from a Chicago resident, because the revenue agents were too lazy to actually run the plate and see if the sticker matched the plate. As long as they saw a sticker, they'd walk on by.

Now the lazy revenue agents can simply scan the bar code on the sticker to confirm it's not only tied to the right license plate, but on the right make and model of car (you're supposed to tell them you've changed cars, oh and pay a "transfer fee" while you're at it.) Additionally, I suspect the newfangled bar-code scanning ability can be used to detect if the zone designation has been forged.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by hindukid

Thank you. Good thing I asked. Any chance I can avoid this late fee going to currency exchange or jewel or somewhere. These things are probably all tied by computer though.

I thought you had a 30-day grace period for the late fee? If so, you have a couple days left. If not, you're SOL unless you bought the car or moved here within the last 30 days.

[surlycue]

Originally Posted by Drover

Additionally, I suspect the newfangled bar-code scanning ability can be used to detect if the zone designation has been forged.

I really hope this isn't true since I sweet talked the desk girl at the city clerk's office into listing me in a zone I'm not in. If it was forged by an actual official I should be cool though, yes?

[Drover]

Originally Posted by surlycue

I really hope this isn't true since I sweet talked the desk girl at the city clerk's office into listing me in a zone I'm not in. If it was forged by an actual official I should be cool though, yes?

Yeah, you should be fine because the data on your sticker will match the data in the system.

[Lookout Kid]

I've only switched cars once since living in Chicago, and transferred the sticker from the old car to the new car (same plate number, though). I don't see how they could ticket someone for this. What a joke. But I only had the new car with the old sticker for a couple of months, so the fact I wasn't ticketed probably doesn't mean much--especially since I don't park on the street.

[bobinc]

they tied plate number 2 it

[Tenzo]

I photoshop my city sticker.
Have every year and have never gotten a ticket