2010 TOYOTA COROLLA LE VIN 2T1BU4EE3AC357818

The Toyota Corolla LE described here left the factory in 2010. Power reaches the wheels through an automatic gearbox. Under the bonnet is a 1.8-litre petrol engine producing 132 hp. Every figure for this car is given as it appears in the source data.

The clock stood at 197,143 miles when the data was entered. A clock converted from miles to kilometres should be documented, since the swap can hide the true mileage. A single figure proves little: what makes a mileage believable is a series of readings that rise steadily over the years.

Primary damage in the record: left front. Two cars with the same damage label can be very different: one needs a few new parts, the other major work. With damage to the left front on file, the inspection should start with the left front wing, the suspension on that corner and the wheel alignment.

At the time of recording, the car ran and drove. A key was noted with the car. Months of standing can leave a car with seized brakes and perished tyres.

According to the source data, the car has a clean title. There is no salvage or similar mark, so the car was never recorded as a total loss.

Every car builds up a history from the day it is first registered: owners come and go, inspections are passed or failed, and repairs are paid for. The paperwork is kept by different bodies – registries, workshops, insurance companies and lenders – so the history of one car is spread across many places. From the outside, a car with a repaired accident and a car without one can look identical.

Regular oil changes and timely work on the timing belt or chain decide how well an engine copes with age. On a petrol engine, a rough idle, misfires or a warning light on the dashboard need looking into. Automatic transmissions, CVTs included, are expensive to repair, so the test drive should include pulling away from a standstill and a stretch at motorway speed.

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. For this car, the VIN is 2T1BU4EE3AC357818. 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.

A VIN report gathers what different sources know about a car, such as the number of owners, mileage readings, damage and any branded title. The absence of an entry is not proof that nothing happened; it may only mean that nobody wrote it down. 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. The next step is to look up the history behind VIN 2T1BU4EE3AC357818.