2012 MAZDA 6 I VIN 1YVHZ8DH3C5M12096

The Mazda 6 I described here left the factory in 2012. Power comes from a 2.5-litre petrol engine with four cylinders. Power reaches the wheels through an automatic gearbox.

The recorded mileage is 156,317 miles. Miles and kilometres are easy to confuse, and a distance in miles looks lower than the same distance in kilometres. The number on the clock proves little by itself; earlier figures logged at services and inspections are what make it believable. Figures carry most weight when they come from independent sources: workshops, inspection stations and past title paperwork.

The main issue noted for this car is side damage. A damage type says what kind of damage the car had, not how serious it was or whether it has been repaired since. With side damage on file, the inspection should start with the door pillars, the sills and the side airbags.

A key is on file for the car.

A salvage title is on file for this car. A title like this is issued when repair was judged uneconomical or unsafe.

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. 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. 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 history check works by VIN because the number never changes, unlike registration plates and owners. This car’s identification number is 1YVHZ8DH3C5M12096. A VIN that differs between the documents and the car, or shows signs of tampering, is reason enough to walk away.

Depending on what is on file, a VIN report may include past registrations, mileage readings, damage entries, branded titles and theft checks. No report is complete: a repair done privately and never claimed on insurance leaves nothing to find. 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 2012 Mazda 6 I, the first step is a look at the history behind VIN 1YVHZ8DH3C5M12096.