2018 TESLA MODEL 3 LONG RANGE/MID RANGE VIN 5YJ3E1EA5JF045976

This Tesla Model 3 Long is a 2018 model, finished in blue. In place of a gearbox there is a single-speed reduction gear, and the car has rear-wheel drive. Power comes from electricity alone. Every figure for this car is given as it appears in the source data.

The car was recorded with 150,222 miles on the clock. Miles and kilometres are easy to confuse, and a distance in miles looks lower than the same distance in kilometres. The mileage is high for the car’s age, so the suspension, brakes, seats and steering wheel deserve a close look. A later figure lower than an earlier one points to a replaced instrument cluster or an odometer that has been wound back. Older figures usually turn up on service invoices, inspection reports and past title paperwork.

Primary damage in the record: left front. A damage entry is a starting point for the inspection, telling the mechanic where to look first. Whatever the cause, a diagnostic scan of the car’s electronics shows fault codes that a visual check misses.

A ‘runs and drives’ note means the car moved under its own power when it was checked. A key was there when the car was checked. Months of standing can leave a car with seized brakes and perished tyres.

Title status in the record: salvage. Such a title means the car was declared a total loss and can return to the road only after repair and inspection. The structure and the quality of any work done deserve a thorough inspection on a car with a branded title.

A car’s history is everything logged against it since it left the factory: registrations and owners, inspections, repairs and insurance claims. Pieces of a car’s history sit with registries, dealers, workshops and insurance companies, and none of them sees the whole picture. Much of a car’s past cannot be seen: a good body repair leaves no obvious mark, and neither do years of hard driving.

For an electric car, a battery health report says more than the odometer: two cars with the same mileage can have very different range left. The charging port and the cables supplied with the car should be checked along with the battery.

Stamped into the body and printed on a plate, the VIN is the one identifier that stays with a car through every owner, registration and repair. This car’s identification number is 5YJ3E1EA5JF045976. A VIN that differs between the documents and the car, or shows signs of tampering, is reason enough to walk away.

Where entries exist, a VIN check can show changes of owner, past mileage readings, reported damage and whether the car is listed as stolen. Paperwork is only as complete as the people who kept it, so a report with few entries lowers the risk without removing it. A VIN check and a physical inspection answer different questions: the first says what happened to the car, the second what condition it is in now. Before any decision, check what is known about VIN 5YJ3E1EA5JF045976.