2012 GMC SIERRA 1500 WORK TRUCK VIN 1GTR2TEA6CZ195610

The GMC Sierra 1500 Work Truck described here left the factory in 2012. The engine is a 4.8-litre petrol unit with eight cylinders. There is an automatic gearbox, with four-wheel drive. Every figure for this car is given as it appears in the source data.

The record gives the mileage as 167,213 miles. The figure is in miles and needs converting before it is compared with kilometres: one mile is about 1.6 km. Turning back an odometer takes little skill and leaves no visible trace, which is why earlier figures matter more than the display.

The source data names no primary damage. That shows only that none was entered, so the body still deserves a close look. Paint depth, panel gaps and the underbody show whether the body has been repaired.

A key was present. Months of standing can leave a car with seized brakes and perished tyres.

The record shows a clean title. Such a title means no salvage, flood or similar mark was recorded against the car; it does not rule out damage repaired without a claim.

A car’s history is everything logged against it since it left the factory: registrations and owners, inspections, repairs and insurance claims. No single office holds the whole story of a car: registries, workshops, insurance companies and lenders each keep their own part. A clean, polished car can still hide a serious accident, a flood or years of hard use.

For the engine, the service history matters most: oil changes, filters and the timing belt or chain are the entries to look for. 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. Drive to all four wheels means more to maintain: differentials and couplings have oil of their own, which some manufacturers want changed at set intervals.

The tenth character of the VIN stands for the model year, and the eleventh for the plant that built the car. The VIN on file for this car is 1GTR2TEA6CZ195610.

Where entries exist, a VIN check can show changes of owner, past mileage readings, reported damage and whether the car is listed as stolen. 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. A history check on VIN 1GTR2TEA6CZ195610 is the place to start.