illinois License Plate Search

Would a search on an Illinois license plate be illegal? 

No, it is not illegal in this and other similar circumstances to conduct a license plate search in the State of Illinois. This state follows federal laws like the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, which does prohibit some forms of personal information being accessed within any type of record related to a motor vehicle. It shall be an Illinois violation to conduct a license plate search for the intent and purpose of getting personal information pertaining to a driver, such but not limited to a driver’s name, address or telephone number. Unless the said use is clearly exempted by DPPA, all those common uses authorised and bound include but shall not be limited to law enforcement agency initiated investigation, processing of insurance claims as well as government, agency activities.

License plate search services can’t disclose any personal information to private persons without a valid cause. Most third-party license plate look-up services actually provide information that is usually within the public domain. It can range in detail from something as broad as the year and make of a vehicle all the way to current on-road/ state of its registration. These sorts of services are to be used responsibly, and assurance has to be given that they adhere to all state and federal privacy laws.

How to do an Illinois License Plate Lookup?

It is possible to conduct an Illinois license plate lookup through a couple of different methods:

Illinois Secretary of State: The office of the Secretary of State is the guardian of the record as far as registration of vehicles in Illinois is concerned. You may also contact them for information as to how to mail in a properly filled out Vehicle Record Request Form, VSD 375 together with the payment of an applicable fee, of course for sufficient and valid reasons like litigations and verification of ownership.

Third-party online services: most of the online services are offering license plate lookups. They can provide some basic information about the vehicle: make, model, and year. Be careful using such services-it may turn into an act against the privacy laws.

Law Enforcement: Whether you have been a victim of a crime or, for whatever reason, involved in a road accident, the license plate search will be made by law enforcement as part of their process of investigation.

You can surely make a license plate search in these ways but you should be pretty sure that you do have a valid reason to avoid any legal consequences.

What does an Illinois license plate search give out?

Not all information is legally provided by running an Illinois License Plate Search. You can expect to find, based on the reason and the manner of your search:

Vehicle Make, Model, and Year: Publicly available data with regard to the make, model, and year of a vehicle associated with the license plate.

Registration Status: active or expired status of a vehicle.

VIN: A few searches would give out the VIN, with which one could obtain a vehicle history report.

Personal information of owner’s name, address or contact information is therefore considered protected under DPPA and only available to persons or entities that have specific, permissible uses. For example, law enforcement agencies, insurance companies and some government agencies have access to such information for specific purposes.

What if the license plate search has been conducted by unauthorized persons in Illinois?

It is in this regard that unauthorized usages of license plates records in Illinois may entail serious penalties: “Driver’s Privacy Protection Act or shortly named the DPPA regulates uses of personal information which has been gathered from the motor vehicle record”. Fines and lawsuits are civil and criminal types of penalties that may involve both for having violated the DPPA. According to the state of Illinois, whoever accesses a record for the purpose of searching for personal information regarding a license plate without being authorized may be liable under:

Fines: Whoever accesses protected information pays fines.

Action for Damages: An action for damages, including punitive damages may be 

brought by an individual whose information was accessed.

Criminal Charges: In severe situations, criminal charges are possible upon unauthorized access.

All of the above penalties you can avoid if you make sure that you have a permissible purpose to perform the license plate search.

How does the Secretary of State safeguard personal information?

In fact, up to now, several practices have been instituted by the Illinois SOS with respect to protection of personal information contained in the records of vehicles. It has a policy of disclosing such personal information for those with only a permissible purpose under the DPPA.

A vehicle record request is made to the Secretary of State for the intended purpose by submitting a Vehicle Record Request Form. The SOS verifies for validity all requests to ensure that they do not violate state and federal laws. There are also policies at the office with secured databases that protect confidential information against unauthorized disclosure.

In the light of the above, such practices are the balancing act to be achieved for the interest of privacy by the Secretary of State of Illinois vis-à-vis the legitimate access to the needed information of public concern or interest.

Does license plate search to explore a car history in the state of Illinois happen?

Yes, a license plate check is considered one of the effective ways to carry out an Illinois vehicle check. Just like in most other states, individual owner information is not considered public data, so one can feel completely free to use either a plate number or VIN to get accordingly your vehicle history report with CARFAX or AutoCheck services.

The Vehicle History Report may contain quite a bulk of useful information:

Accident History: Vehicle history regarding a list of the accidents it was involved in. 

Title History: Past owners of the vehicle title issues. 

Service Records: Past record of service, repairs done in the past or present.

If you are buying a used car in Illinois, then to think clearly and buy, you definitely have to see the history of your vehicle. While a license plate search will not denote who the vehicle owner is, it may be done to obtain any applicable details of the history of the car.

Knowledge of the legal and practical ways of carrying out license plate searches in Illinois helps its citizens be assured that they fall well within set privacy laws and fetch desired information for their purpose.

Recent Illinois License Plate Search