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?
What are vehicle tabs?
You may be more familiar with a tax disc, or registration sticker or a tag. The little foil sticker you put in your car to show you’ve paid your taxes in connection to your car.
Ah, I know what you mean, we haven’t had those for 15 years here in Sweden…
We have similar tabs in Germany to indicate that the vehicle registration plate is valid, the car is insured and the tax is payed. However, they are manufactured in a way that makes it impossible to remove them in one piece.
If you don’t pay you vehicle tax or, even worse, don’t pay your insurance, some official will search for your car and scrape the tabs off.
In Sweden, you don’t need the tab to guarantee that the plate is valid, as the plates come directly from Trafikverket and have watermarks all over. However, for the other two reasons, tax and insurance, the system in Sweden relies basically on hopes and prayers. Even a former professor at my department at a Swedish university drove his car without insurance.
We got rid of those in Ontario. Now no one drives with insurance or licences and hit and runs are common. Actual insured drivers have to pay more for premiums.