Less than a year since taking office, City Clerk Susana A. Mendoza has dramatically changed the City Vehicle Sticker purchase process, starting with launching sales one month earlier than last year. The 2012 – 2013 City Vehicle Sticker, honoring Chicago’s police, fire and paramedic personnel, is on sale in person starting today at more than 400 sales locations, including all City Clerk Offices. Online City Vehicle Sticker sales started April 23 and have already seen a 74 percent increase versus the first week of online sales last year.

“We’ve made a number of changes to this year’s vehicle sticker sales process, including extending the sales period to help reduce in person wait times and allow ample time for people to purchase their sticker,” said Clerk Mendoza. “We’ve already seen a dramatic increase in our online sales, with nearly 13,000 more stickers sold in the first week of online sales compared to last year,” continued Mendoza.

“Last year I visited all 50 wards on vehicle sticker sales days and heard from many Chicago drivers. We made a lot of our improvements based on this direct feedback, including a new online Will Call option and additional Aldermanic Ward Sale dates, all with the goal of making it as convenient as possible for 1.3 million Chicago drivers to purchase their City Vehicle Stickers,” said Mendoza.

The 2011 – 2012 city vehicle stickers expire June 30, 2012. Clerk Mendoza allows a 15 day grace period before enforcement of the 2012 – 2013 city vehicle stickers begins July 16.

The cost of a passenger City Vehicle Sticker is $85 and larger passenger City Vehicle Stickers are $135. Senior citizens, age 65 and older, are eligible to receive one sticker for $30. Annual Residential Zone Parking is $25 and Daily Residential Parking Permits are $8 for 15 permits. Motorists who purchase their sticker after July 15 are subject to a $60 late fee and could receive a $200 citation.

To purchase a City Vehicle Sticker, residents must bring their driver’s license or renewal form and know their vehicle license plate number. In addition, this year’s City Vehicle Stickers contain the vehicle make and model as another security feature. A complete list of sales locations, including all Aldermanic Ward Sale dates, can be found at chicityclerk.com.

Besides starting City Vehicle Sticker sales earlier, Clerk Mendoza has made driving in Chicago easier with this year’s vehicle sticker. Using the increasingly popular quick response code (QR code) technology, motorists can access a variety of helpful services for Chicago drivers by simply scanning the back of their City Vehicle Stickers. The QR code, accessed after downloading a free QR code reader application to a user’s smart phone, takes drivers to a brand new mobile landing page, v.chicityclerk.com. On the page they can: look up street cleaning schedules, determine if they are in a residential parking zone, buy daily residential guest parking permits, report a pothole, find a parking spot, find their Alderman’s contact information, pay a parking ticket, register their dog and contact the City Clerk’s Office.

The City Clerk’s Office highly encourages motorists to avoid in person sales lines and purchase their City Vehicle Stickers online at chicityclerk.com in the new EZ Buy purchase portal. It is a more user-friendly website, with step-by-step instructions to minimize purchase confusion and there is no additional purchase fee to buy City Vehicle Stickers or Daily Residential Guest Passes online. It also allows for the purchase of multiple City Vehicle Stickers in one transaction. In addition, motorists who buy their stickers online can enter to win one of several prizes donated by Chicago-area businesses and sports teams.

Adding to the convenience of purchasing City Vehicle Stickers online is the new online Will Call pick up option. This program was created after hearing concerns from residents that they didn’t order their sticker online because of unreliable mail delivery. Now, when people order their stickers online, they can choose to have them mailed to their home or pick them up at one of three City Clerk office locations in 5 business days at a dedicated Will Call window, similar to picking up tickets to a game or concert.