2014 NISSAN ALTIMA 2.5 SV VIN 1N4AL3AP2EC165469

This Nissan Altima 2.5 SV was built in 2014. Power comes from a 2.5-litre petrol engine with four cylinders. The gearbox is automatic, with front-wheel drive.

The car was recorded with 192,178 miles on the clock. The instruments count in miles; the same distance in kilometres is about 1.6 times the figure. Averaged over the car’s age, the mileage works out well above the usual annual distance, and wear on the suspension, brakes and interior should be judged with that in mind. The number on the clock proves little by itself; earlier figures logged at services and inspections are what make it believable.

No damage type appears in the source data; that shows what was entered, not what the car has been through. Signs of an old repair – uneven panel gaps, overspray, a slight mismatch in paint – can still turn up at an inspection.

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: clean. There is no salvage or similar mark, so the car was never recorded as a total loss.

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 past rarely shows on the paintwork: a well-repaired accident or water damage that was dried out is easy to miss.

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. A petrol engine in good order starts cleanly, idles evenly and pulls without hesitation. The automatic gearbox needs its fluid changed at the manufacturer’s intervals, and invoices should show that it was.

Stamped into the body and printed on a plate, the VIN is the one identifier that stays with a car through every owner, registration and repair. The VIN 1N4AL3AP2EC165469 belongs to this 2014 Nissan Altima 2.5 SV. Scratches, fresh paint or a replaced plate around the VIN markings are warning signs in their own right.

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 repair paid for in cash at a small workshop leaves no trace in any database, so no report can list it. A professional inspection makes sense whatever the paperwork shows, because no report measures corrosion, worn bushes or a poor repair. Before going any further with this Nissan Altima 2.5 SV, it makes sense to look up VIN 1N4AL3AP2EC165469.