2018 CHEVROLET TRAVERSE LT VIN 1GNERHKW9JJ271637

This entry is for a 2018 Chevrolet Traverse LT, finished in silver. Under the bonnet is a 3.6-litre petrol engine. There is an automatic gearbox, with front-wheel drive. Every figure for this car is given as it appears in the source data.

At the time of recording, the car had covered 181,316 miles. The figure is in miles and needs converting before it is compared with kilometres: one mile is about 1.6 km. A car that has covered this much distance for its age has worked hard, and a mechanic should judge the wear accordingly. A single figure proves little: what makes a mileage believable is a series of readings that rise steadily over the years. Figures carry most weight when they come from independent sources: workshops, inspection stations and past title paperwork.

The record lists front-end damage as the main problem on this car. A damage type says what kind of damage the car had, not how serious it was or whether it has been repaired since. A lift and a diagnostic check show what photos cannot: bent brackets behind a panel, chafed wiring or deployed airbags.

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

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

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 past rarely shows on the paintwork: a well-repaired accident or water damage that was dried out is easy to miss.

Regular oil changes and timely work on the timing belt or chain decide how well an engine copes with age. On a petrol engine, a rough idle, misfires or a warning light on the dashboard need looking into. 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. For this car, the VIN is 1GNERHKW9JJ271637. 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. A repair paid for in cash at a small workshop leaves no trace in any database, so no report can list it. 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. With this 2018 Chevrolet Traverse LT, the first step is a look at the history behind VIN 1GNERHKW9JJ271637.