2012 ACURA TSX 2.4 VIN JH4CU2F44CC012127

The Acura TSX 2.4 described here left the factory in 2012. There is an automatic gearbox, with front-wheel drive. Power comes from a 2.4-litre petrol engine with four cylinders. Every figure for this car is given as it appears in the source data.

The source data puts the mileage at 163,994 miles. The figure is in miles and needs converting before it is compared with kilometres: one mile is about 1.6 km. Gaps of several years between logged figures deserve attention, as does any reading lower than the one before it.

This Acura TSX 2.4 is recorded with damage to the left front. The damage type is a short label: the extent of the damage and the quality of any repair still have to be judged on the car. Given the kind of damage entered, a mechanic should look first at the left front wing, the suspension on that corner and the wheel alignment.

A ‘runs and drives’ note means the car moved under its own power when it was checked. A key was noted with the car. Months of standing can leave a car with seized brakes and perished tyres.

According to the source data, the car has a salvage title. At some point in its life, the car was declared a total loss. A branded title follows the car through every change of owner, so it remains part of its history.

Behind every used car lies a string of events: who owned it and for how long, what the inspections found and which repairs and claims were made. The paperwork is kept by different bodies – registries, workshops, insurance companies and lenders – so the history of one car is spread across many places. Much of a car’s past cannot be seen: a good body repair leaves no obvious mark, and neither do years of hard driving.

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. The automatic gearbox needs its fluid changed at the manufacturer’s intervals, and invoices should show that it was.

Every modern car carries a 17-character VIN, and no two cars share one. The VIN on file for this car is JH4CU2F44CC012127. The VIN usually appears at the base of the windscreen, on a door pillar and stamped into the body, and all of them should match the documents.

A VIN report gathers what different sources know about a car, such as the number of owners, mileage readings, damage and any branded title. 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. The next step is to look up the history behind VIN JH4CU2F44CC012127.