1996 CADILLAC DEVILLE VIN 1G6KD52Y9TU226583

This Cadillac Deville is a 1996 model, finished in yellow. The fuel is petrol. The drivetrain combines an automatic gearbox with front-wheel drive.

The record gives the mileage as 91,046 miles. Miles and kilometres are easy to confuse, and a distance in miles looks lower than the same distance in kilometres. Little distance per year can mean long periods of standing, light use or a tampered clock, and only older entries tell these apart. The number on the clock proves little by itself; earlier figures logged at services and inspections are what make it believable. Service invoices and inspection reports each carry a mileage figure, and lined up in order they show whether the clock tells the truth.

No damage entry is on file for this car, and the bodywork still needs checking in person. Water marks under the carpets, rust in unusual places or a panel in a slightly different shade would point to damage nobody ever entered.

A key was noted with the car. Months of standing can leave a car with seized brakes and perished tyres.

The car carries a clean title. A clean title is a good sign, though it says nothing about wear, maintenance or how the car was driven.

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. Much of a car’s past cannot be seen: a good body repair leaves no obvious mark, and neither do years of hard driving.

An engine that has had its oil changed on time is far less likely to cause trouble later, and workshop invoices are the proof. 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.

The ninth character of the VIN is a check digit calculated from the other sixteen, so a mistyped or invented number does not add up. The record gives the VIN as 1G6KD52Y9TU226583. A VIN that differs between the documents and the car, or shows signs of tampering, is reason enough to walk away.

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 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. The next step is to look up the history behind VIN 1G6KD52Y9TU226583.