Are license plates referred to as "tags" in some parts of the United States?

[y_p_w]

I never really heard the term before until I started watching some videos of police interactions. I haven't heard anything other than "license plate" in person, and looking up laws and various DMV websites of states where these interactions took place, they legally call them "license plates".

I guess a similar one is "tabs" for the little sticker that goes on the license plate to mark the registration expiration year. We call that a registration sticker around here. But I'm getting a bit confused because the context sometimes is for "tags" referencing registration stickers. I do understand that in some states these go on windshields, but even those are legally called stickers and not tags/tabs.

I did a little more research, and in my state the vehicle code refers to "tabs" as stickers that represents the month of registration expiration.

 

[hank2]

In a slang sense, I've long heard vehicle license plates referred to as "tags." Or used as a verb, such as the car is "tagged", meaning registered and legally on the street.

 

[eljefino]

"Tabs" get their historical reference from metal renewal thingies that fit in one corner. Waaaay back in the day you'd get a whole new plate every year, which was deemed wasteful, so some states made little adapters that fit in a corner and were held in with one screw. Eventually these turned into renewal stickers, windshield decals, or nothing at all.

 

[burbguy82]

I never really heard the term before until I started watching some videos of police interactions. I haven't heard anything other than "license plate" in person, and looking up laws and various DMV websites of states where these interactions took place, they legally call them "license plates".

I guess a similar one is "tabs" for the little sticker that goes on the license plate to mark the registration expiration year. We call that a registration sticker around here. But I'm getting a bit confused because the context sometimes is for "tags" referencing registration stickers. I do understand that in some states these go on windshields, but even those are legally called stickers and not tags/tabs.

I did a little more research, and in my state the vehicle code refers to "tabs" as stickers that represents the month of registration expiration.

yes, "tag office" or "tags" are used synonymously with "licenses plates".

 

[sopususer]

yes, "tag office" or "tags" are used synonymously with "licenses plates".

I've even heard them called "license tags" in my corner of NC. Or when pricing a car, I've been quoted, "tags, tax, and title."

 

[TiGeo]

Tags = plates/reg/stickers for your when you renew.

Tabs. Huh?

 

[FT92]

I've heard all of the above, usually just called license plates in my neck of the woods

 

[burbguy82]

Tags = plates/reg/stickers for your when you renew.

Tabs. Huh?

aint heard of tabs

 

[Randy_R]

Florida.

 

[shortyb]

For as long as I can remember, "tags" was the most common term used for license plates in cop vernacular. "Run the tags" was used way more often than "run the plates". Ironically, ALPRs are Automatic License Plate Readers, not ATRs and no one seems to get it confused what they do. The DMV down here officially calls them license plates, but most of the personnel inside calls them tags. Most car dealers call them tags as well when making the sale as "title, tax, and tags" fees. "Stickers" are what the small year decals that affix to the corner of a license plate are commonly called, even though officially the DMV labels them as "Registration Decals". In VA (former home) where there is vehicle inspection, the term sticker, or decal, for what was always crookedly placed on the windshield, seemed to be used interchangeably about 50/50. I always thought "decals" were what you put on cars to get an extra 10 HP .

 

[John105]

Yes, in PA. The businesses who issue them are called ****** Auto Tags.

I learned yesterday they also use the term “jimmies” here, which I didn’t know even having lived here 26 years. Growing up in New England, I thought that was a Boston thing.

Just to be clear, just because there are Auto Tag places where one can apply for a license plate, doesn’t in any way imply valid tags are needed to drive on the roads. In Phila, they are not.

 

[Cujet]

Yes, here in Florida we might say "somebody stole my tag"

 

[doitmyself]

aint heard of tabs

 

[fantastic]

Heard it many times.

 

[Ranger83]

Yes, in PA. The businesses who issue them are called ****** Auto Tags.

I learned yesterday they also use the term “jimmies” here, which I didn’t know even having lived here 26 years. Growing up in New England, I thought that was a Boston thing.

Just to be clear, just because there are Auto Tag places where one can apply for a license plate, doesn’t in any way imply valid tags are needed to drive on the roads. In Phila, they are not.

Have to be careful with using jimmies instead of sprinkles in other places…..

Go to Boston and tell someone you want a hoagie and they will look at you like you are a Martian.

In Boston they are usually “subs” but in some neighborhoods (not necessarily Italian) they are called “spukies” (spucadella), and down towards Rhode Island, “grinders.”

In other places, also called heroes, blimpies, torpedoes, and who knows what.

Seen in Boston. Yes, he was a Caddyshack fan….

 

[Astro14]

You’re joking, right?

We have whole threads about the cost of “tags” and you wonder if anyone uses the term, “tags”?

Thread 'How much is your vehicle tag in your state ?'
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/how-much-is-your-vehicle-tag-in-your-state.395267/

 

[Chris142]

Here we have a plate. When registered we put a small sticker on the plate called a tag. You have to slice your tag with a rasor so when someone tries to peel it off to put on their cars plate they just get pieces.

 

[Gyro Gearloose]

The four states I've lived in the southeast they are tags, unless you go all fancy and get vanity plates. Renewal stickers are ....well, stickers.

 

[Kira]

"Tabs" get their historical reference from metal renewal thingies that fit in one corner.

NEVER heard of those ...not even the word.
Plates made of soy fibers which mice would eat, yes. Metal tabs held with a screw, never.

Yes, in PA.

Those neon signs in those Pennsylvania businesses caught my eye. They just say "TAGS" in block letters, filling the store's window.

Just to be clear, just because there are Auto Tag places where one can apply for a license plate, doesn’t in any way imply valid tags are needed to drive on the roads. In Phila, they are not.

^^Can't be true. Sounds like an overly broad, "nobody obeys the law anymore", type comment.
What surprises me is the consistent number of out-of-date inspection stickers.

Something new: In NJ, the MVC (DMV's new name) wanted red, corner stickers (not tabs) on plates on cars driven by young drivers.
The plan was ridiculed for marking targets for sexual predators and went away....then it returned.

I anxiously await the implantation of the RF chip in our mastoid bones. No more cards or papers to carry.
It'll be better that the "Uni-card" featured in the bad, futuristic movie "Judge Dread".

Renewal stickers are ....well, stickers.

Exactly. Also, a "decal" always required soaking in water.
They were exteriorly mounted or interiorly for 'behind the glass' applications.

Now the huge "Screaming Chicken" decals for certain Pontiac Firebird hoods....those are appliques.

 

[Cujet]

Every once in a while there is a funny one.