Forgive me but after many many years in the trade let me assure you of something.......people of all ages will try it on if they think they can gain from it.

I seem to recall an incidence when a customers window switch failed and he tried to claim warranty. Close examination revealed it to be full of water. We declined on the grounds we belived he had left the window open in the rain. When confronted his comment was "fair enough, it was worth a try". Another came back with a siezed brake caliper, upon inspection we found tool marks on the piston and a set of Halford pads in there!......he claimed he hadnt touched the brakes since the day he drove it off the forecourt brand new 8 months previously. Then there was the case of 4 failed wheel bearings that we found full of sand, owner claimed it had never been near a beach despite us showing him the bucketfull of sand that came out of the brake drums. I have seen electrical problems caused by people fitting aftermarket radios, then putting the original back in and denying it even when confronted with scotchlocks and butchered wiring. I even saw somone put brake fluid in the screen wash of a 3 day old car and insist " it must have been there when I bought it"

The initial thought of your dealers and Vx would be...., maybe you have hit something and the bumper has been off for paint and not refitted correctly and could you really blame them for it?

There are lots of factors involved in goodwill cases Syd particularly when things cant be proven, my guess is the fact you are a long time customer has pushed it your way. Be grateful for what you have got and move on.

Sydney,

I hope you weren't expecting too much consolation on here ;-)

I had a similar situation with Jaguar a few years ago. Their mechanics botched a repair and my front suspension came apart and the wheel came adrift and the car grounded - fortunately I was only doing 5 mph at the time!

In this case the garage fixed the car and gave me a courtesy car whilst it was done (the bare minimum as far as I'm concerned!) but I asked for some compensation as their inept mechanic could have caused a fatality. When they offered me a free service I told them I would rather have the value of the service as two cheques, made payable to two local charities - thereby putting the whole matter to bed and at least someone would benefit.

The declined to accept my offer. I was disgusted with them and would never use them again (Stratstone if you're interested)

Anyway, the morale is, you can't really get much compensation out of someone based on what might have happened! Maybe in this case a few services and a change of manufacturer next time is the best way to close this off.

Posting your woes on forums is useful though - anyone picking up a new Insignia should get their bumpers checked in case this is a common mistake!

Thanks, Avant. Haha! I must say, not all five were for me - two were for my sons!

Who would remove the bumper of a two week old car???

A bodyshop to carry out a repair maybe, who has then denied all responsibilty.