Mitch, my insurance company states, I have to take precautionary measures to prevent theft, its written right in the policy, I know because I've gone down this route before many times, same as anything with my equipment, if I were to leave anything unlocked, I'd be partly if not more responsible for the theft, and have a lot of talking to do to ever get paid, so in the insurance companies eye's, yes in fact I am at fault, to what extent, only they would determine, this idea of that it's always "someone else's fault" isn't really how anyone's life works, you have to take some of the responsibility yourself, it sure isn't the thief's parents fault, no different than it isn't the parents fault for someone who'd vandalize anything either, its those that do the vandalizing plain and simple, if it makes you feel better to claim that, go fool yourself and keep it up, if I have repeated vandalism problems, first we sit down and figure out why, then take care of it, no matter the cost. If that's to hire a full time watchmen, or a crew of them, or to take stuff home every night or whatever, first off, my insurance company wouldn't leave me with much option.
On the subject of destruction of property, weather its theft, vandalism or whatever, I'd have to do certain things, I'm not sure what insurance companies do or require in your area, apparently nothing, but around me, we have things called audits and onsite inspections, which are random and they can show up at any time, on any site, this first came as a surprise to me, I'd never had it done before, and I didn't know who did them either, but I've received many letters in the mail over the years to tell me either I was in compliance or not if not, I'd be cancelled in x number of days, yes it came as a shock and took some head scratching to figure out what I'd done wrong and many phone calls later to find out. "I have to take due precautions to prevent theft or vandalism" has always been the explaination, if they feel I routinely don't, they can and will cancel me at any time, I've also never had a claim with any of these insurance companies for vandalism or theft either, or any before these companies either, I'd either had someone come forward and pay the damages, those responsible got caught, or I just paid it out of pocket, anyway you look at it doesn't really matter, I'd never blamed the parents of those doing it, what a crock and excuse, nor those that did it personally either, I stood back, took inventory of why it happened and took action, if it was a personal vendetta, which in most cases it was, I figured out what I'd done to cause the problem, in most cases it was an underbid, or I got the job from someone else and they were upset, not some kid or punk or just some random thing, and given the oppertunity for the incident to happen, just like the insurance company had deemed or tried to get me to prevent.
I"d have no idea just how you took my post, apparently not as it was intended, but on everything where vandalism was done as a kid myself, or by my kids, it was usually a case where it wasn't intended, just an outcome of messing around, I doubt since we're actually discussing this case, the kid probably realized he broke the window or ever intended it to happen, he was probably focusing on doing donuts and not that he'd kick up a rock, same as everything I'd ever done, going too fast slid off the road on wet conditions and took out a mailbox sort of thing, then go back hat in hand and fess up, pay the damages and apologize and move on with life, or get the phone call later on saying you know your kids were out tearing around on four wheelers in the hay field and spooked my cattle and now someone needs to put them back in and fix fence, so we go and take care of it, apologize and tell the truth, nobody knew your cattle were still in the pasture for the season, even though they weren't in your pasture tearing around, they should have known better.
Where anyone came up with this notion of a "kid being a kid" translates into intentionally going around using rocks and breaking out windows in machines, or using sledge hammers and go at a machine, or stealing a machine or tools, I"d have no idea, I nor my kids ever did that, i really don't know of any that ever did, this case in point, the kid didn't unless the video showed he did, which was never stated, so I took it as not the case at all, he was just screwing around and an outcome he'd never intended came about, if he'd have known it, he'd have probably gone, oh ****, then panic, not come in the next day and be surprised, his first reaction probably was when confronted, what,,,,,,,,,, me,.............. how.................. and when reality sank it, then the oh **** factor kicked in,the beat red face, sweating, nervous, start shaking, etc, I'd personally liked to have been there to see that reaction, but since I'm a dad, get some more pleasure out of seeing a cocky kid getting caught red handed and not see it coming, but that's just me and a personal perk.
I'd have no idea where CM translated anything on this thread into the 16k in damages to his own machines and those responsible were the results of poor parenting and how he's not responsible for anything, maybe not in his world, but in mine, let me state for the record, I'm always partly responsible for everything that happens to my propety whether I like it or not, so yes the unlocked vehicle is still partly my own fault, not just the thiefs, and I've also had to repair door locks so they did work and I could lock the doors, as per instructions from the insurance company, same as on my machines, and install theft deterrent measures as per instructions, along with in some locations, take everything home every night and the list is endless, but then again, I've not had problems either, so take it for what its worth, and by the way, blaming "someone else" never solved anything, neither does standing there stating, I did all I could, when in fact, that's never the case either, just an excuse to make yourself feel better.
So Mitch, thanks for telling me my post was taken wrong and letting me know, if I didn't make it clear, please specify and we'll work on it some more, I certainly never meant to horrify anyone, but this is how the world works in my sector of it, if its different in yours please explain.