Section 1010.540   Fees

a)         Over-the-Counter Sales Program

The maximum fee and service charge to be imposed upon an applicant for motor vehicle renewal license plates and/or stickers by any vendor shall be $5.50.  The actual fee allowed shall be set out in the agreement between the Secretary of State and the financial institution and/or the agreement between financial institutions.  No additional charge shall be imposed upon the applicant by any such person, firm, corporation or private institution, or its authorized agent for distribution of motor vehicle renewal license plates and/or stickers.  A service provider may charge vendors up to $10 for each ERT transaction.  The maximum ERT fee to be imposed on the customer may not exceed the amount actually charged by the service provider to the vendor plus an amount equal to 1.5 times the amount actually charged by the service provider to the vendor and, therefore, the maximum fee to be imposed upon a customer utilizing the ERT services shall be $25, in addition to any other fee permitted by law or rule.  The term Financial Institution, for the purposes of this Section, shall mean any federal or State chartered bank, savings and loan, credit union, armored carrier, and any currency exchange either directly or indirectly through an armored carrier.

b)         Electronic Registration and Titling

Vendors participating in the Electronic Registration and Titling (ERT) program may charge customers a fee for the optional service of electronically processing their vehicle titling and registration or data and for providing registration plates or stickers.  The maximum fee to be imposed upon a customer utilizing the ERT services shall be $25, in addition to any other fee permitted by law or rule.  However, if the ERT services are used solely for renewing vehicle registrations, the maximum fee imposed shall be that set forth is subsection (a) of this Section.  The actual ERT fee allowed to be charged by vendors shall be set out in the agreement between the Secretary of State and the ERT service provider and in the agreements between the ERT service provider and the vendors.  One of the two following methods shall be used to identify the fee: 

1)         the fee shall be identified on the bill of sale, receipt or any other sales documents as "Optional ERT Fee".  The "Optional ERT Fee" language shall be distinguished from other language with the use of bold, colored, italic or underscored type or by using a larger font, but in no case may the font size be smaller than that required by the Illinois Motor Vehicle Retail Installment Sales Act [815 ILCS 375].  If this method is used, not later than July 1, 2006, all pre-printed bills of sale, receipts or other sales documents shall identify the fee as "Optional ERT Fee" in bold type; or

2)         the fee shall be identified on a separate document, including the phrase "Optional Electronic Registration Fee", using a font size not smaller than that required by the Illinois Motor Vehicle Retail Installment Sales Act [815 ILCS 375] and with a signature line indicating the customer's acceptance or rejection of the option of paying the fee.

(Source:  Amended at 35 Ill. Reg. 1652, effective January 13, 2011)