2009 NISSAN ALTIMA 2.5 S VIN 1N4AL21E29N434458

This entry is for a 2009 Nissan Altima 2.5 S, finished in silver. The gearbox is automatic. The petrol engine has four cylinders and produces 170 hp. The specification is taken from the source data.

The car was recorded with 131,215 miles on the clock. Because the clock counts miles, any figure noted in kilometres has to be converted before the two can be compared. Gaps of several years between logged figures deserve attention, as does any reading lower than the one before it. Service invoices and inspection reports each carry a mileage figure, and lined up in order they show whether the clock tells the truth.

Primary damage in the record: rear end. A damage entry is a starting point for the inspection, telling the mechanic where to look first. Given the kind of damage entered, a mechanic should look first at the boot floor, the rear panel and the chassis rails.

The record notes that the car ran and drove. A key is on file for the car.

According to the source data, the car has a salvage title. At some point in its life, the car was declared a total loss.

A car’s history answers three questions: who kept it, how it was looked after and what went wrong along the way. No single office holds the whole story of a car: registries, workshops, insurance companies and lenders each keep their own part. A car’s past rarely shows on the paintwork: a well-repaired accident or water damage that was dried out is easy to miss.

Many modern petrol engines are turbocharged and direct-injected; where they are, the turbocharger and injectors belong on a specialist’s checklist. 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 1N4AL21E29N434458.

Where entries exist, a VIN check can show changes of owner, past mileage readings, reported damage and whether the car is listed as stolen. 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. A history check on VIN 1N4AL21E29N434458 is the place to start.