Jesse White encourages motorists to go green this Earth Day with vehicle renewals

 

Email Renewals and Renewal Postcards Conserve Paper and Save Nearly $1 Million

 

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is encouraging motorists to go green this Earth Day by registering to receive their vehicle renewal notices via e-mail. In addition, less paper is being used as new vehicle renewal postcards are currently being distributed to most vehicle owners who have not signed up for the email notices.

“I’m pleased to use technology and conserve paper in order to create a more efficient and earth-friendly process for our customers while saving taxpayers nearly $1 million dollars,” White said.

Registration tables are being set up at the James R. Thompson Center on Monday and Tuesday where the public can submit email information to Secretary of State customer service representatives in order to receive paperless renewals.  Vehicle owners are also encouraged to go green and sign up by visiting www.cyberdriveillinois.com in honor of Earth Day. To register, drivers will need their vehicle registration card or renewal notice.   If vehicle owners do not have a renewal notice or a current registration card, they should call the Public Inquiry Division at 800-252-8980.

Vehicle owners began receiving paperless renewals in September and so more than 20,000 license plate renewals have been sent via email, White said.  Illinois motorists have requested that more than 330,000 vehicle registration renewals be sent through the email program, White said.  Approximately 14,000 people are signing up each week to receive the service, he added.

The project will result in a $400,000 estimated savings per year, according to White.

The email renewal process will include the first email renewal notice with a second follow-up reminder renewal to be sent around the 15th of each month for those not yet renewed, and a third to be sent the following month, alerting customers of a late fee.

The notice, which will contain a link for renewal by Internet, can also be printed and taken to a facility. Currently, 750,000 people renew their vehicle stickers online.

Some renewals, such as for commercial vehicles, cannot be conducted via the Internet.  However those owners can still receive email notices containing all the same information of a regular renewal.

Customers may sign up for the service even if they haven’t received an email from the office.  Drivers will need their previous year’s registration card containing their “reg code” and PIN numbers.  Once they have those, they can visit www.cyberdriveillinois.com and go to the “Email My Renewal Notice” tab on the right side of the website.

In addition, for those who have not signed up for the email service, renewal notice postcards are now being sent out to vehicle owners as opposed to the folded paper renewals.  The approximately 4 million postcards, which are smaller and require less postage have saved taxpayers about $550,000 to date, White said.