New Form for Licensing Nurse Tanks; Crossing State Lines

We have been telling you recently about IFCA working with the IL Sec of State to resolve the issue of titles and license plates for nurse tanks.  Some recent clean-up changes in the Vehicle Code eliminated the ability of our industry to obtain titles for nurse tank trailers, and thus eliminated the ease in getting license plates, which are required by law for nurse tank fertilizer trailers. 

We are happy to report that this has now been resolved.  In consultation with IFCA, the IL SOS has developed a process by which you can obtain license plates for your nurse tank trailers without having to obtain a title.  If you already have a title, that is fine, but if you don't now all you need to do is provide the SOS with a unique identifying number of the trailer.  If your trailers do not have a certificate of origin or a unique number on them, there is a new form which you can complete and the SOS will then assign you unique numbers which you can permanently affix to the trailer.  You cannot use a tank number to identify the trailer; the number has to be affixed to the trailer itself.  To register tanks for the first time, you should go directly to the Commercial and Farm Truck Division at the SOS office in Springfield next to the Capitol building.  You can renew the licenses at the local SOS offices.  The new trailer identification form is posted on the IFCA website on the home page and also under "Regulations", then "Secretary of State" or "Ammonia." 

There is a memo from SOS that explains this new process, which is also posted at the IFCA website.  One thing that the memo also explains is that the SOS can no longer provide registration for nurse tank trailers crossing state lines to operate in Illinois.  Federal rules do not recognize "implements of husbandry" and thus tanks coming in to Illinois from Wisconsin, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa and Kentucky can not be legally registered to operate in Illinois. 

IFCA wants to thank the employees in the SOS Commercial and Farm Truck Division for working with our industry to resolve this issue in a timely manner so that you can continue to meet your legal obligation to license your nurse tank trailers.