2009 NISSAN ALTIMA 2.5 S VIN 1N4AL21E49N463671

This record covers a 2009 Nissan Altima 2.5 S, finished in black. The fuel is petrol. The drivetrain combines an automatic gearbox with front-wheel drive.

The record gives the mileage as 164,484 miles. The instruments count in miles; the same distance in kilometres is about 1.6 times the figure. Services and inspections note the distance covered, so a car with an ordinary past builds up a trail of figures that climb year after year.

The record lists flood damage as the main problem on this car. The damage type is a short label: the extent of the damage and the quality of any repair still have to be judged on the car. Damage rarely stays where it is first seen: an impact can reach the mountings and airbags behind a panel, and water or fire the wiring and electronics.

A car that does not run has to be moved on a trailer, and its real condition is known only after a thorough assessment. An engine that will not start could have a simple electrical fault or internal damage, and only diagnostic work can tell which. A key is on file for the car. Running condition describes a single moment, and standing or work done since can change it.

Title status in the record: salvage. Such a title means the car was declared a total loss and can return to the road only after repair and inspection.

Behind every used car lies a string of events: who owned it and for how long, what the inspections found and which repairs and claims were made. No single office holds the whole story of a car: registries, workshops, insurance companies and lenders each keep their own part. A clean, polished car can still hide a serious accident, a flood or years of hard use.

Many modern petrol engines are turbocharged and direct-injected; where they are, the turbocharger and injectors belong on a specialist’s checklist. On a car that does not run, the automatic gearbox cannot be judged on the road; the colour and smell of its fluid and a diagnostic scan give the first clues.

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 1N4AL21E49N463671. The number in the car’s documents should match the one stamped into the body and the one on the plate at the base of the windscreen.

A VIN report gathers what different sources know about a car, such as the number of owners, mileage readings, damage and any branded title. No report is complete: a repair done privately and never claimed on insurance leaves nothing to find. However complete the paperwork, only an inspection shows the condition of the body, suspension, brakes and electrics today. The history behind VIN 1N4AL21E49N463671 is the natural starting point before any decision about this Nissan Altima 2.5 S.