2010 BUICK LACROSSE CXS VIN 1G4GE5EV8AF194465

The Buick Lacrosse CXS described here left the factory in 2010. The engine is a 3.6-litre petrol unit with six cylinders. There is an automatic gearbox, with front-wheel drive. Every figure for this car is given as it appears in the source data.

The record gives the mileage as 193,857 miles. The instruments count in miles; the same distance in kilometres is about 1.6 times the figure. A later figure lower than an earlier one points to a replaced instrument cluster or an odometer that has been wound back.

The record lists front-end damage as the main problem on this car. Whether the damage has been repaired since, and how well, is not something a damage entry can show.

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

The record shows a clean title. There is no salvage or similar mark, so the car was never recorded as a total loss.

A car’s history is the sum of what has happened to it since it was new, and most of it has left a trace on paper somewhere. 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.

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. On a petrol engine, spark plugs, ignition coils and the cooling system are the routine items a service history should cover. 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.

The ninth character of the VIN is a check digit calculated from the other sixteen, so a mistyped or invented number does not add up. The VIN on file for this car is 1G4GE5EV8AF194465. A VIN that differs between the documents and the car, or shows signs of tampering, is reason enough to walk away.

A VIN report shows what has been logged: earlier registrations, odometer figures, damage entries, branded titles and theft checks, wherever such data exists. Paperwork is only as complete as the people who kept it, so a report with few entries lowers the risk without removing it. The past is on file; the car’s condition today is a job for a mechanic, who can check the structure, underbody, electrics and any repairs on a lift. With this 2010 Buick Lacrosse CXS, the first step is a look at the history behind VIN 1G4GE5EV8AF194465.