2017 VOLKSWAGEN TIGUAN 2.0T/2.0T S VIN WVGBV7AX2HK046410

This Volkswagen Tiguan is a 2017 model. The drivetrain combines an automatic gearbox with all-wheel drive. The engine is a 2.0-litre petrol unit with four cylinders. Details for this car come from a single data source and may differ from its documents.

The recorded mileage is 124,655 miles. The figure is in miles and needs converting before it is compared with kilometres: one mile is about 1.6 km. The number on the clock proves little by itself; earlier figures logged at services and inspections are what make it believable.

The main issue noted for this car is front-end damage. Whether the damage has been repaired since, and how well, is not something a damage entry can show.

When it was checked, the car could not be driven. An engine that will not start could have a simple electrical fault or internal damage, and only diagnostic work can tell which. A key was noted with 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. A branded title follows the car through every change of owner, so it remains part of its history.

Registrations, changes of owner, inspection results and accident claims together make up what is called a car’s history. The paperwork is kept by different bodies – registries, workshops, insurance companies and lenders – so the history of one car is spread across many places. From the outside, a car with a repaired accident and a car without one can look identical.

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. With no test drive possible, the automatic gearbox has to be assessed on a lift and with diagnostic equipment. A car with all-wheel drive has extra differentials and often a transfer case, which an inspection should cover alongside the engine and gearbox.

The tenth character of the VIN stands for the model year, and the eleventh for the plant that built the car. The VIN on file for this car is WVGBV7AX2HK046410.

What a history report can list depends on what has been documented about the car: registrations, mileage readings, damage, branded titles and theft reports. The absence of an entry is not proof that nothing happened; it may only mean that nobody wrote it down. 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 going any further with this Volkswagen Tiguan, it makes sense to look up VIN WVGBV7AX2HK046410.