2018 HYUNDAI TUCSON SE VIN KM8J2CA43JU662761

The Hyundai Tucson SE described here left the factory in 2018. The gearbox is automatic, with four-wheel drive. Under the bonnet is a 2.0-litre petrol engine. Details for this car come from a single data source and may differ from its documents.

At the time of recording, the car had covered 78,980 miles. A single figure proves little: what makes a mileage believable is a series of readings that rise steadily over the years.

This Hyundai Tucson SE is recorded with damage to the right front. A damage type says what kind of damage the car had, not how serious it was or whether it has been repaired since.

The car is recorded as running and driving. A key was noted with the car. Months of standing can leave a car with seized brakes and perished tyres.

Title status in the record: salvage. A title like this is issued when repair was judged uneconomical or unsafe. If any work has been done on the car since, photos and invoices should show what was replaced.

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. The paperwork is kept by different bodies – registries, workshops, insurance companies and lenders – so the history of one car is spread across many places. A car’s past rarely shows on the paintwork: a well-repaired accident or water damage that was dried out is easy to miss.

On a petrol engine, spark plugs, ignition coils and the cooling system are the routine items a service history should cover. 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 car with four-wheel drive has extra differentials and often a transfer case, which an inspection should cover alongside the engine and gearbox.

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 KM8J2CA43JU662761 belongs to this 2018 Hyundai Tucson SE.

Where entries exist, a VIN check can show changes of owner, past mileage readings, reported damage and whether the car is listed as stolen. A professional inspection makes sense whatever the paperwork shows, because no report measures corrosion, worn bushes or a poor repair. A history check on VIN KM8J2CA43JU662761 is the place to start.