2017 NISSAN PATHFINDER SL VIN 5N1DR2MN6HC652796

This Nissan Pathfinder SL was built in 2017. Power reaches the wheels through a CVT gearbox. The fuel is petrol. The specification is taken from the source data and has not been checked against other documents.

The source data puts the mileage at 213,404 miles. The figure is in miles and needs converting before it is compared with kilometres: one mile is about 1.6 km. Averaged over the car’s age, the mileage works out well above the usual annual distance, and wear on the suspension, brakes and interior should be judged with that in mind. Turning back an odometer takes little skill and leaves no visible trace, which is why earlier figures matter more than the display. Service invoices and inspection reports each carry a mileage figure, and lined up in order they show whether the clock tells the truth.

Primary damage in the record: mechanical. A damage entry is a starting point for the inspection, telling the mechanic where to look first. A lift and a diagnostic check show what photos cannot: bent brackets behind a panel, chafed wiring or deployed airbags.

A key was noted with the car. Condition notes are a snapshot: the car may have been worked on, stripped of parts or left standing since.

Registrations, changes of owner, inspection results and accident claims together make up what is called a car’s history. Pieces of a car’s history sit with registries, dealers, workshops and insurance companies, and none of them sees the whole picture. A clean, polished car can still hide a serious accident, a flood or years of hard use.

For the engine, the service history matters most: oil changes, filters and the timing belt or chain are the entries to look for. Many modern petrol engines are turbocharged and direct-injected; where they are, the turbocharger and injectors belong on a specialist’s checklist. 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 5N1DR2MN6HC652796. A VIN that differs between the documents and the car, or shows signs of tampering, is reason enough to walk away.

A VIN report gathers what different sources know about a car, such as the number of owners, mileage readings, damage and any branded title. No report is complete: a repair done privately and never claimed on insurance leaves nothing to find. The past is on file; the car’s condition today is a job for a mechanic, who can check the structure, underbody, electrics and any repairs on a lift. For this 2017 Nissan Pathfinder SL, the sensible next step is a history check on VIN 5N1DR2MN6HC652796.