Stealing registration tags from another vehicle is now a “thing” in California, where registering vehicles has gotten pretty pricey, especially after the passage in 2017 of SB 1, which raised vehicle registration fees and the state’s gas tax. You can fight back against the thieves. California drivers are not only allowed to cut score marks into their registration tags to prevent theft, the Department of Motor Vehicles encourages and recommends it. It is legal to do so.
Here’s what the DMV website says: “After applying the sticker, use a box-cutter or other sharp instrument to carefully score the sticker surface with an X pattern. This will make it more difficult to remove the sticker because it will not come off the license plate in one piece.”
