# Illinois vanity plates? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 31, 2002, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-vanity-plates/145909 "2002-12-31T18:50:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-vanity-plates/145909/1 "2002-12-31T18:50:30Z")
Just travelled thru the **Land of Lincoln** and I’d never seen so many vanity plates. How come? Huh? ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-vanity-plates/145909/2 "2002-12-31T19:19:31Z")
We’re a vain people, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-vanity-plates/145909/3 "2002-12-31T19:42:33Z")
Well, you should be…you look **great** …I just assumed they were cheap and easy there. Most states it takes extra money and time to ensure the cops easily remember your plate. ---
**Author:** ![beefymeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@beefymeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beefymeg)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-vanity-plates/145909/4 "2002-12-31T20:00:28Z")
I do not know this to be true, and if it was once true, I’m not sure that it still is, but I heard… In IL, vanity plates that end in a number (i.e. ALYSON 4 or I SMEL 2) do not cost the extra $80 a year (or so) that “pure” vanity plates (HOTSTUF or FASTRNU) do. So you can essentially get a vanity plate for no greater cost than a regular plate, as long as you don’t mind the number at the end. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-vanity-plates/145909/5 "2002-12-31T20:14:01Z")
That makes sense…as I remember, most ended with numbers. They read like AOL usernames. ---
**Author:** ![beefymeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@beefymeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beefymeg)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-vanity-plates/145909/6 "2002-12-31T20:20:40Z")
All you ever, ever wanted to know about Land of Lincoln license plates. And then some. [http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/vehicles/license\_plates.html](http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/vehicles/license_plates.html) ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mike\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_H)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-vanity-plates/145909/7 "2002-12-31T20:24:33Z")
**beefymeg** , you are correct. Illinois makes a distinction between personalized plates, which contain a combination of numbers and letters, and vanity plates which are either all numbers (1 through 999; the person who owned license plate “1” used to park a couple blocks down the street from where I lived in Chicago) or all letters. On preview, I see you’ve found that out. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-vanity-plates/145909/8 "2002-12-31T23:07:25Z")
and, FYI, we also have a large number of special plates here in ILL, e.g. Peace plates, Breast Cancer plates, save the environment plates, etc., in part because of the power of the various special interests. I believe that I heard that there is one plate that represents only 800 people in a very very special interest. It’s not surprising that we have a little system here for placating and satisfying a number of these special interests, given our history of corruption and graft. And, by the way, I understand that the large variety of plates makes it very difficult for our police to quickly identify, although that apparently doesn’t faze the lawmakers whose interests are a bit more personal. xo CC ---
**Author:** ![Lorenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@Lorenzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorenzo)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-vanity-plates/145909/9 "2002-12-31T23:26:31Z")
If I had a dollar for every Suburban, Tahoe, Expedition, Navigator, Land Cruiser, Range Rover or any other vehicle achieving single digit actual city gas mileage that is registered in Illinois with “Save the Environment” plates, well, I’d have a few more dollars than I have right now.