2014 LEXUS ES 350 VIN JTHBK1GG7E2100862

This entry is for a 2014 Lexus ES 350, finished in white. Power reaches the wheels through an automatic gearbox. The car runs on petrol. The specification is taken from the source data and has not been checked against other documents.

The car was recorded with 103,354 miles on the clock. The figure is in miles and needs converting before it is compared with kilometres: one mile is about 1.6 km. 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. Figures carry most weight when they come from independent sources: workshops, inspection stations and past title paperwork.

When the car was recorded, it showed damage to the left front. 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 front wing, the suspension on that corner and the wheel alignment.

At the time of recording, the car ran and drove. A key is on file for the car. Months of standing can leave a car with seized brakes and perished tyres.

A salvage title is on file for this car. Titles of this type are issued to cars declared a total loss. If any work has been done on the car since, photos and invoices should show what was replaced.

A car’s history is everything logged against it since it left the factory: registrations and owners, inspections, repairs and insurance claims. A car’s paperwork is scattered: the registry knows about owners, the workshop about repairs and the insurance company about claims. A car’s past rarely shows on the paintwork: a well-repaired accident or water damage that was dried out is easy to miss.

For the engine, the service history matters most: oil changes, filters and the timing belt or chain are the entries to look for. A petrol engine in good order starts cleanly, idles evenly and pulls without hesitation. 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.

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 JTHBK1GG7E2100862 belongs to this 2014 Lexus ES 350. The number in the car’s documents should match the one stamped into the body and the one on the plate at the base of the windscreen.

Depending on what is on file, a VIN report may include past registrations, mileage readings, damage entries, branded titles and theft checks. A repair paid for in cash at a small workshop leaves no trace in any database, so no report can list 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. Look up the history of VIN JTHBK1GG7E2100862 first, and let what it shows guide the inspection.