2020 MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER SEL 2.4 S-AWC VIN JA4AZ3A35LZ027077

This record covers a 2020 Mitsubishi Outlander SEL 2.4 S-Awc, finished in black. There is an automatic gearbox, with four-wheel drive. The petrol engine has four cylinders and produces 166 hp. Every figure for this car is given as it appears in the source data.

At the time of recording, the car had covered 91,358 miles. Services and inspections note the distance covered, so a car with an ordinary past builds up a trail of figures that climb year after year.

When the car was recorded, it showed hail damage. A damage type says what kind of damage the car had, not how serious it was or whether it has been repaired since. With hail damage on file, the inspection should start with the roof, bonnet and boot lid, and the glass.

The car is recorded as running and driving. A key was present. A condition note describes the car at one moment; months of standing or later work on the car can change the picture in either direction.

The car carries a salvage title. A title of this kind usually means the car was written off as a total loss after damage. If any work has been done on the car since, photos and invoices should show what was replaced.

A car’s history answers three questions: who kept it, how it was looked after and what went wrong along the way. The paperwork is kept by different bodies – registries, workshops, insurance companies and lenders – so the history of one car is spread across many places. What a car has been through is seldom visible at first glance, and a respray can make even a badly damaged car look sound.

A cold start, the colour of the exhaust smoke and any oil leaks tell a mechanic a good deal about how an engine has been treated. 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. With four-wheel drive, mismatched tyres can strain the centre differential or coupling, so all four should be the same make and similarly worn.

A VIN never contains the letters I, O or Q, which could be mistaken for digits; its 17 characters identify the maker, the model and the individual car. The VIN on file for this car is JA4AZ3A35LZ027077. 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.

Depending on what is on file, a VIN report may include past registrations, mileage readings, damage entries, branded titles and theft checks. 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. A history check on VIN JA4AZ3A35LZ027077 is the place to start.