2011 CHEVROLET IMPALA LT VIN 2G1WG5EK3B1316991

This entry is for a 2011 Chevrolet Impala LT, finished in white. The gearbox is automatic. The engine is a 3.5-litre flex-fuel unit with six cylinders.

The source data puts the mileage at 159,564 miles. The instruments count in miles; the same distance in kilometres is about 1.6 times the figure. A single figure proves little: what makes a mileage believable is a series of readings that rise steadily over the years. Figures carry most weight when they come from independent sources: workshops, inspection stations and past title paperwork.

In the source data, the main issue is damage to the right side. 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. With damage to the right side on file, the inspection should start with the pillars, sills and doors on the right side.

A car that does not run has to be moved on a trailer, and its real condition is known only after a thorough assessment. The engine could not be started. A key was there when the car was checked. Condition notes are a snapshot: the car may have been worked on, stripped of parts or left standing since.

The record shows a clean title. Nothing on the title points to a total loss or a flood.

A car’s history is everything logged against it since it left the factory: registrations and owners, inspections, repairs and insurance claims. A car’s paperwork is scattered: the registry knows about owners, the workshop about repairs and the insurance company about claims. From the outside, a car with a repaired accident and a car without one can look identical.

Many modern petrol engines are turbocharged and direct-injected; where they are, the turbocharger and injectors belong on a specialist’s checklist. While the car does not run, stored fault codes and a look at the fluid are the only early evidence of how the automatic gearbox has fared.

Every modern car carries a 17-character VIN, its identity for life, and no two cars share one. The record gives the VIN as 2G1WG5EK3B1316991. 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.

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 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. With this 2011 Chevrolet Impala LT, the first step is a look at the history behind VIN 2G1WG5EK3B1316991.