1998 HONDA ACCORD EX VIN 1HGCG1657WA070570

This entry is for a 1998 Honda Accord EX, finished in purple. The engine is a 3.0-litre petrol unit with six cylinders. Power reaches the wheels through an automatic gearbox. Details for this car come from a single data source and may differ from its documents.

The record gives the mileage as 82,250 miles. The figure is in miles and needs converting before it is compared with kilometres: one mile is about 1.6 km. Little distance per year can mean long periods of standing, light use or a tampered clock, and only older entries tell these apart. A single figure proves little: what makes a mileage believable is a series of readings that rise steadily over the years.

The main issue noted for this car is mechanical damage. A damage entry is a starting point for the inspection, telling the mechanic where to look first. With mechanical damage on file, the inspection should start with the engine, the gearbox and the running gear.

At the time of recording, the car ran and drove. A key is on file for 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.

The car carries a transfer document in place of a title. Without a title certificate, registering the car can take extra paperwork and checks.

Registrations, changes of owner, inspection results and accident claims together make up what is called a car’s history. A car’s paperwork is scattered: the registry knows about owners, the workshop about repairs and the insurance company about claims. What a car has been through is seldom visible at first glance, and a respray can make even a badly damaged car look sound.

Regular oil changes and timely work on the timing belt or chain decide how well an engine copes with age. On a petrol engine, spark plugs, ignition coils and the cooling system are the routine items a service history should cover. Automatic transmissions, CVTs included, are expensive to repair, so the test drive should include pulling away from a standstill and a stretch at motorway speed.

The tenth character of the VIN stands for the model year, and the eleventh for the plant that built the car. This car’s identification number is 1HGCG1657WA070570.

Depending on what is on file, a VIN report may include past registrations, mileage readings, damage entries, branded titles and theft checks. No report is complete: a repair done privately and never claimed on insurance leaves nothing to find. A professional inspection makes sense whatever the paperwork shows, because no report measures corrosion, worn bushes or a poor repair. Before going any further with this Honda Accord EX, it makes sense to look up VIN 1HGCG1657WA070570.