2009 LEXUS IS 250 VIN JTHBK262795087854

The Lexus IS 250 described here left the factory in 2009. Under the bonnet is a 2.5-litre petrol engine producing 236 hp. Power reaches the wheels through an automatic gearbox. The specification is taken from the source data and has not been checked against other documents.

Services and inspections note the distance covered, so a car with an ordinary past builds up a trail of figures that climb year after year. Older figures usually turn up on service invoices, inspection reports and past title paperwork.

This Lexus IS 250 is recorded with side damage. Whether the damage has been repaired since, and how well, is not something a damage entry can show. Whatever the cause, a diagnostic scan of the car’s electronics shows fault codes that a visual check misses.

No key was available with the car, so a new one will have to be made and programmed. A condition note describes the car at one moment; months of standing or later work on the car can change the picture in either direction.

Title status in the record: salvage. 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.

A car’s history is everything logged against it since it left the factory: registrations and owners, inspections, repairs and insurance 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.

For the engine, the service history matters most: oil changes, filters and the timing belt or chain are the entries to look for. 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.

A vehicle identification number has 17 characters: the first three name the manufacturer, the next six describe the model and its specification, and the last eight identify the individual car. The VIN on file for this car is JTHBK262795087854. 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 shows what has been logged: earlier registrations, odometer figures, damage entries, branded titles and theft checks, wherever such data exists. 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 Lexus IS 250, it makes sense to look up VIN JTHBK262795087854.