C'mon people, liability insurance is good

I found out this morning that my mechanic doesn't have liability insurance. That means I will be finding a new mechanic.

Why? Because anyone can have an off day. Sometimes an off day can lead to a tragic accident. If a member of my family is in a tragic accident because my mechanic is having an off day, life will be a whole lot worse for everyone if there's no insurance.

Years ago I was involved in a case where a garage emptied the oil from an engine and forgot to put more in. Insanely stupid--yes. The sort of thing that one can easily imagine happening? Absolutely. The engine seized up after the car was driven for a mile or two. Nobody was hurt and the claim was only for property damage.

But imagine that the garage had been near a highway entrance and the engine seized up on 128. The car sputters and slows, gets rear-ended by the car behind it, and someone ends up paralyzed. It's a horrible enough scenario with sufficient insurance. Without insurance, unless the injured person is independently very, very wealthy, they are likely looking at a life of poverty. They are unable to work and unable to afford to pay caretakers. A million dollars in an insurance settlement (which conservatively invested may provide $50,000 a year to live on) can be the difference between tragedy and hell.

If I were the owner of the garage I would grit my teeth every time I wrote my insurance premium check. But I would do it, not only to protect my business but to protect my customers