The Illinois General Assembly must prohibit auto insurance companies from putting the squeeze on vehicle owners when they are most vulnerable.

State Rep. Thomas Holbrook (D-Belleville) proposed a bill that would forbid auto insurance companies to pressure vehicle owners to have their car fixed at a specific auto repair shop.

There are few conditions more crippling than being without transportation. Transportation is a link both literally and figuratively to a person’s every need.

When a person’s vehicle is damaged in an accident or needs mechanical repairs, owners often find themselves at the mercy of their insurance company and auto repair shop.

Illinois residents who live in more rural areas such as DeKalb County are confronted with public transportation that is non-existent or too inadequate to be reliable.

According to a report by the Economic Research Service for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, close to 40 percent of all rural counties are not served by public transit systems and 28 percent of rural counties have just minimal transit service.

For these residents, life without their vehicle is difficult if not impossible to imagine. A vehicle is often the most important means to their livelihood.

To make matters worse, insurance companies often require owners to have car repairs performed at a certain shop, which can be as far as 50 miles from the owner’s home.

It is awfully convenient for insurance companies, tow truck outfits and the repair shops themselves. It is not a far stretch to imagine they are all in bed with one another.

It is time for these companies to stop profiting from vehicle owners’ misfortunes.

There is nothing in the bill to suggest that legitimate businesses should not be able to recommend a certain facility, but to force the use of a certain shop is downright suspect.

If these companies have nothing to hide and they aren’t profiting from kickbacks to one another, they should have no complaint with this bill.