2015 CHEVROLET SUBURBAN C1500 LT VIN 1GNSCJKC8FR505342

This entry is for a 2015 Chevrolet Suburban C1500 LT, finished in white. The gearbox is automatic, with rear-wheel drive. The fuel is petrol. Every figure for this car is given as it appears in the source data.

The record gives the mileage as 149,416 miles. The figure is in miles and needs converting before it is compared with kilometres: one mile is about 1.6 km. Gaps of several years between logged figures deserve attention, as does any reading lower than the one before it. Older figures usually turn up on service invoices, inspection reports and past title paperwork.

In the source data, the main issue is side damage. A damage entry is a starting point for the inspection, telling the mechanic where to look first. Whatever the cause, a diagnostic scan of the car’s electronics shows fault codes that a visual check misses.

The record notes that the car ran and drove. A key was noted with the car. A condition note describes the car at one moment; months of standing or later work on the car can change the picture in either direction.

Every car builds up a history from the day it is first registered: owners come and go, inspections are passed or failed, and repairs are paid for. Pieces of a car’s history sit with registries, dealers, workshops and insurance companies, and none of them sees the whole picture. Much of a car’s past cannot be seen: a good body repair leaves no obvious mark, and neither do years of hard driving.

Regular oil changes and timely work on the timing belt or chain decide how well an engine copes with age. On a petrol engine, a rough idle, misfires or a warning light on the dashboard need looking into. The automatic gearbox needs its fluid changed at the manufacturer’s intervals, and invoices should show that it was.

The tenth character of the VIN stands for the model year, and the eleventh for the plant that built the car. For this car, the VIN is 1GNSCJKC8FR505342.

A VIN report gathers what different sources know about a car, such as the number of owners, mileage readings, damage and any branded title. A repair paid for in cash at a small workshop leaves no trace in any database, so no report can list it. A VIN check and a physical inspection answer different questions: the first says what happened to the car, the second what condition it is in now. For this 2015 Chevrolet Suburban C1500 LT, the sensible next step is a history check on VIN 1GNSCJKC8FR505342.