Can the $10,000 payoff that car loan so your $400 payment disappears?

When someone is licensed they are insured also, if something does come up that you need to recover you can always work with insurance companies, but individuals can very quickly disappear if something goes wrong and your recourse is almost zero in that scenario. 

Indeed, the price of $5000 disappeared for now.

I've also found through trial and error that a contractor might be good on one job, but then disappear or completely fall off the grid.