2018 CHEVROLET EQUINOX LT VIN 2GNAXJEV2J6335321

This Chevrolet Equinox LT is a 2018 model. Under the bonnet is a 1.5-litre petrol engine. There is an automatic gearbox, with front-wheel drive. The specification is taken from the source data and has not been checked against other documents.

A later figure lower than an earlier one points to a replaced instrument cluster or an odometer that has been wound back. A service book or a folder of workshop invoices is the simplest place to find past readings.

This Chevrolet Equinox LT is recorded with rollover damage. A damage type says what kind of damage the car had, not how serious it was or whether it has been repaired since. Whatever the cause, a diagnostic scan of the car’s electronics shows fault codes that a visual check misses.

As a non-runner, the car needs its engine, gearbox and electrics assessed before anything else. The engine could not be started. No key is recorded with the car, and a replacement has to be coded to the immobiliser. Condition notes are a snapshot: the car may have been worked on, stripped of parts or left standing since.

According to the source data, the car has a salvage title. A title of this kind usually means the car was written off as a total loss after damage.

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 clean, polished car can still hide a serious accident, a flood or years of hard use.

Regular oil changes and timely work on the timing belt or chain decide how well an engine copes with age. Many modern petrol engines are turbocharged and direct-injected; where they are, the turbocharger and injectors belong on a specialist’s checklist. On a car that does not run, the automatic gearbox cannot be judged on the road; the colour and smell of its fluid and a diagnostic scan give the first clues.

A history check works by VIN because the number never changes, unlike registration plates and owners. The record gives the VIN as 2GNAXJEV2J6335321. A VIN that differs between the documents and the car, or shows signs of tampering, is reason enough to walk away.

What a history report can list depends on what has been documented about the car: registrations, mileage readings, damage, branded titles and theft reports. A history report says nothing about the car’s present condition: the frame, corrosion, electrics and the quality of any repair are judged on a lift by a mechanic. Look up the history of VIN 2GNAXJEV2J6335321 first, and let what it shows guide the inspection.