2012 HYUNDAI TUCSON GLS VIN KM8JUCAC7CU383530

This entry is for a 2012 Hyundai Tucson GLS. The gearbox is automatic, with four-wheel drive. Under the bonnet is a 2.4-litre petrol engine. Every figure for this car is given as it appears in the source data.

At the time of recording, the car had covered 130,071 miles. 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.

Primary damage in the record: mechanical. A damage entry is a starting point for the inspection, telling the mechanic where to look first.

A key was present. Condition notes are a snapshot: the car may have been worked on, stripped of parts or left standing since.

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. From the outside, a car with a repaired accident and a car without one can look identical.

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. Many modern petrol engines are turbocharged and direct-injected; where they are, the turbocharger and injectors belong on a specialist’s checklist. 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. A car with four-wheel drive has extra differentials and often a transfer case, which an inspection should cover alongside the engine and gearbox.

The tenth character of the VIN stands for the model year, and the eleventh for the plant that built the car. The VIN of this Hyundai Tucson GLS is KM8JUCAC7CU383530. 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. However complete the paperwork, only an inspection shows the condition of the body, suspension, brakes and electrics today. The next step is to look up the history behind VIN KM8JUCAC7CU383530.