2011 HONDA ODYSSEY TOURING/TOURING ELITE VIN 5FNRL5H99BB104585

The Honda Odyssey described here left the factory in 2011. The fuel is petrol. The gearbox is automatic, with front-wheel drive. Every figure for this car is given as it appears in the source data.

The recorded mileage is 310,756 miles. The figure is in miles and needs converting before it is compared with kilometres: one mile is about 1.6 km. The mileage is high for the car’s age, so the suspension, brakes, seats and steering wheel deserve a close look. A single figure proves little: what makes a mileage believable is a series of readings that rise steadily over the years.

This Honda Odyssey is recorded with front-end damage. 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.

The record describes this Honda Odyssey as a non-runner. The engine could not be started. A key was there when the car was checked.

Title status in the record: clean. 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. A car’s paperwork is scattered: the registry knows about owners, the workshop about repairs and the insurance company about claims. What a car has been through is seldom visible at first glance, and a respray can make even a badly damaged car look sound.

For the engine, the service history matters most: oil changes, filters and the timing belt or chain are the entries to look for. On a petrol engine, spark plugs, ignition coils and the cooling system are the routine items a service history should cover. On a car that does not run, the automatic gearbox cannot be judged on the road; the colour and smell of its fluid and a diagnostic scan give the first clues.

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 5FNRL5H99BB104585.

A VIN report shows what has been logged: earlier registrations, odometer figures, damage entries, branded titles and theft checks, wherever such data exists. No report is complete: a repair done privately and never claimed on insurance leaves nothing to find. 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. Before going any further with this Honda Odyssey, it makes sense to look up VIN 5FNRL5H99BB104585.