2012 TOYOTA COROLLA S VIN 2T1BU4EE0CC906166

The Toyota Corolla S described here left the factory in 2012. The fuel is petrol. There is an automatic gearbox, with front-wheel drive. The specification is taken from the source data.

At the time of recording, the car had covered 200,402 miles. Miles and kilometres are easy to confuse, and a distance in miles looks lower than the same distance in kilometres. Gaps of several years between logged figures deserve attention, as does any reading lower than the one before it.

No damage type appears in the source data; that shows what was entered, not what the car has been through. Paint depth, panel gaps and the underbody show whether the body has been repaired.

A ‘runs and drives’ note means the car moved under its own power when it was checked. A key is on file for the car. A condition note describes the car at one moment; months of standing or later work on the car can change the picture in either direction.

Title status in the record: clean. A clean title is a good sign, though it says nothing about wear, maintenance or how the car was driven.

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. A car’s past rarely shows on the paintwork: a well-repaired accident or water damage that was dried out is easy to miss.

Regular oil changes and timely work on the timing belt or chain decide how well an engine copes with age. 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 should respond smoothly and without delay; jerks, slipping or hesitation on a test drive need investigating.

The tenth character of the VIN stands for the model year, and the eleventh for the plant that built the car. The record gives the VIN as 2T1BU4EE0CC906166.

A VIN report gathers what different sources know about a car, such as the number of owners, mileage readings, damage and any branded title. However complete the paperwork, only an inspection shows the condition of the body, suspension, brakes and electrics today. With this 2012 Toyota Corolla S, the first step is a look at the history behind VIN 2T1BU4EE0CC906166.