2016 NISSAN ALTIMA VIN 1N4AL3AP9GC212595

The Nissan Altima described here left the factory in 2016. The drivetrain combines an automatic gearbox with front-wheel drive. The engine is a 2.5-litre petrol unit with four cylinders. The specification is taken from the source data and has not been checked against other documents.

At the time of recording, the car had covered 157,000 miles. The figure is in miles and needs converting before it is compared with kilometres: one mile is about 1.6 km. Averaged over the car’s age, the mileage works out well above the usual annual distance, and wear on the suspension, brakes and interior should be judged with that in mind. The number on the clock proves little by itself; earlier figures logged at services and inspections are what make it believable.

The record lists front-end damage as the main problem on this car. 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.

A note in the source data says the car did not run. An engine that will not start could have a simple electrical fault or internal damage, and only diagnostic work can tell which. A key was noted with the car. Condition notes are a snapshot: the car may have been worked on, stripped of parts or left standing since.

The record shows a salvage title. A title like this is issued when repair was judged uneconomical or unsafe.

A car’s history is everything logged against it since it left the factory: registrations and owners, inspections, repairs and insurance claims. The paperwork is kept by different bodies – registries, workshops, insurance companies and lenders – so the history of one car is spread across many places. Much of a car’s past cannot be seen: a good body repair leaves no obvious mark, and neither do years of hard driving.

For the engine, the service history matters most: oil changes, filters and the timing belt or chain are the entries to look for. On a petrol engine, spark plugs, ignition coils and the cooling system are the routine items a service history should cover. 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 VIN is a 17-character code assigned at the factory: it identifies the manufacturer, the model and its variant, and ends with a serial number unique to the car. This car’s identification number is 1N4AL3AP9GC212595. The VIN usually appears at the base of the windscreen, on a door pillar and stamped into the body, and all of them should match the documents.

Where entries exist, a VIN check can show changes of owner, past mileage readings, reported damage and whether the car is listed as stolen. Paperwork is only as complete as the people who kept it, so a report with few entries lowers the risk without removing it. A history report says nothing about the car’s present condition: the frame, corrosion, electrics and the quality of any repair are judged on a lift by a mechanic. Before making a decision about this Nissan Altima, check the history behind VIN 1N4AL3AP9GC212595.