2014 CHEVROLET SILVERADO 1500 LTZ VIN 3GCUKSEC9EG495067

This Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ was built in 2014. There is an automatic gearbox, with four-wheel drive. The petrol engine has eight cylinders and produces 355 hp. The specification is taken from the source data and has not been checked against other documents.

The car was recorded with 188,364 miles on the clock. A car that has covered this much distance for its age has worked hard, and a mechanic should judge the wear accordingly. Turning back an odometer takes little skill and leaves no visible trace, which is why earlier figures matter more than the display.

In the source data, the main issue is damage to the left rear. A damage type says what kind of damage the car had, not how serious it was or whether it has been repaired since. Given the kind of damage entered, a mechanic should look first at the left rear quarter panel, the suspension on that corner and the boot floor.

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

Title status in the record: clean. Nothing on the title points to a total loss or a flood.

A car’s history answers three questions: who kept it, how it was looked after and what went wrong along the way. Pieces of a car’s history sit with registries, dealers, workshops and insurance companies, and none of them sees the whole picture. What a car has been through is seldom visible at first glance, and a respray can make even a badly damaged car look sound.

On a petrol engine, a rough idle, misfires or a warning light on the dashboard need looking into. The automatic gearbox should respond smoothly and without delay; jerks, slipping or hesitation on a test drive need investigating. On a car with four-wheel drive, a whine or clunk when turning tightly at low speed needs a mechanic’s attention.

A vehicle identification number has 17 characters: the first three name the manufacturer, the next six describe the model and its specification, and the last eight identify the individual car. This Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ has the VIN 3GCUKSEC9EG495067.

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 repair paid for in cash at a small workshop leaves no trace in any database, so no report can list 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. A history check on VIN 3GCUKSEC9EG495067 is the place to start.