2012 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT S VIN 1VWAP7A36CC074718

This record covers a 2012 Volkswagen Passat S, finished in silver. The fuel is petrol. Power reaches the wheels through a manual gearbox. Details for this car come from a single data source and may differ from its documents.

The clock stood at 104,605 miles when the data was entered. Because the clock counts miles, any figure noted in kilometres has to be converted before the two can be compared. 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. Title paperwork often notes the mileage at each change of owner, which makes it a useful cross-check.

Primary damage in the record: side. A damage type says what kind of damage the car had, not how serious it was or whether it has been repaired since. Some damage shows its consequences only later: corroded connectors and electrical faults can surface months afterwards.

At the time of recording, the car ran and drove. A key was noted with the car.

Title status in the record: clean. Such a title means no salvage, flood or similar mark was recorded against the car; it does not rule out damage repaired without a claim.

A car’s history is everything logged against it since it left the factory: registrations and owners, inspections, repairs and insurance claims. Pieces of a car’s history sit with registries, dealers, workshops and insurance companies, and none of them sees the whole picture. From the outside, a car with a repaired accident and a car without one can look identical.

On a petrol engine, a rough idle, misfires or a warning light on the dashboard need looking into. A test drive says a great deal about a manual gearbox: listen for whining, feel for notchy changes and check that the clutch does not slip.

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. The VIN on file for this car is 1VWAP7A36CC074718. A VIN that differs between the documents and the car, or shows signs of tampering, is reason enough to walk away.

What a history report can list depends on what has been documented about the car: registrations, mileage readings, damage, branded titles and theft reports. 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. Before making a decision about this Volkswagen Passat S, check the history behind VIN 1VWAP7A36CC074718.