2012 AUDI A6 3.0 PREMIUM VIN WAUGGAFC1CN074954

The Audi A6 3.0 Premium described here left the factory in 2012. The gearbox is automatic. The petrol engine has six cylinders and produces 310 hp.

The source data puts the mileage at 133,947 miles. Miles and kilometres are easy to confuse, and a distance in miles looks lower than the same distance in kilometres. A single figure proves little: what makes a mileage believable is a series of readings that rise steadily over the years. Older figures usually turn up on service invoices, inspection reports and past title paperwork.

When the car was recorded, it showed damage to the left front. A damage type says what kind of damage the car had, not how serious it was or whether it has been repaired since. Damage rarely stays where it is first seen: an impact can reach the mountings and airbags behind a panel, and water or fire the wiring and electronics.

A key was present. 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 clean title. A clean title is a good sign, though it says nothing about wear, maintenance or how the car was driven.

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. 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 all-wheel drive has extra differentials and often a transfer case, which an inspection should cover alongside the engine and gearbox.

Every modern car carries a 17-character VIN, and no two cars share one. This car’s identification number is WAUGGAFC1CN074954. 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. However complete the paperwork, only an inspection shows the condition of the body, suspension, brakes and electrics today. With this 2012 Audi A6 3.0 Premium, the first step is a look at the history behind VIN WAUGGAFC1CN074954.