My entire adult life, I’ve heard various people tell me that I need to score my tabs after putting them on “so no one can steal them”. I’ve known many people like myself that find this idea absurd, and don’t bother with scoring. How did this idea become mainstream advice?
It hasn’t happened to me, but the tag was stolen off my friend’s Nissan Rogue multiple times. The police said it’s a commonly stolen car. Thieves put the stolen tag on the stolen car so the tag doesn’t come back to a vehicle that was reported stolen.
I’ve never heard of any method of preventing them from being stolen. They’re held on by screws; anyone with a screwdriver can take it in less than 20 seconds, only 5 if it’s electric. I’m not sure how scoring the tag is supposed to prevent anything.
If a scored tag “looks suspicious” and leads to getting pulled over, that means everyone who does this is constantly getting pulled over for no reason.
That one doesn’t pass the smell test.
I think you might be confusing “tags” and “license plates”?
Maybe. I’m referring to the metal plate with the numbers on it. If OP is referring to the little sticker in the corner of the plate with the year on it, I’ve never heard of that being stolen, and stealing it wouldn’t even accomplish anything, at least not in the US.
Every sticker I’ve gotten also has the plate number written on it. The sticker is a different color every year too so you can’t cut the year off a random sticker and stick it over your own.
Not to mention, no cop is going to rely on what the sticker says, they’re going to run the plate through their computer and act based on what it says.