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?


Nope, never. That said, I don’t live in a place that uses tiny brightly coloured stickers on the outside of the vehicle to prove it’s taxed, so that might be a factor.
I assume even where these are used, the police could just check a database to see if the vehicle is taxed.
You forget cops are assholes.
They also know if you’re vehicle is insured, but they still hassle you about having your physical insurance card.