For many years, when you sold or traded a vehicle, your license plate — and the unexpired registration fee you probably paid for months ago — went with the vehicle to the new owner.
But starting in January, your license plate and registration will stay with you, which should save you money and be more convenient.
Kentucky is modernizing its 40-year-old vehicle registration system. Once the new Kentucky Automated Vehicle Information System (KAVIS) is available statewide in mid-January, when a vehicle is transferred with unexpired registration, the seller will remove and keep the license plate and its registration decal.
The seller can then install the license plate and unexpired registration to any other vehicle they own of the same class, including a newly purchased vehicle.
Further, owners of specialty license plates — such as nonprofit and military plates— will save money by no longer paying for a standard license plate to go with the vehicle they are selling or trading and paying to place their specialty plate on a newly purchased vehicle.
However, Hendersonians will first need to visit the Henderson County Clerk’s Office in the courthouse to have the license plate transferred to the new vehicle.
Meanwhile, while the KAVIS system is being implemented, there will be a short time when vehicle and boat registration services at the county clerk’s office will be paused. The clerk’s motor vehicle department will be closed from Dec. 30 through Jan. 8.
Hendersonians who need to make December vehicle renewals or transfers should do so before Dec. 30.
Online vehicle registration renewal will be unavailable from Dec. 28 until the week of Jan. 8.
This system change won’t impact driver license issuance at Driver Licensing Regional Offices, which in Henderson is located at 374 Borax Drive, adjacent to the Henderson County Detention Center.
