2012 KIA SORENTO BASE VIN 5XYKTDA24CG269995

The KIA Sorento Base described here left the factory in 2012. The gearbox is automatic, with four-wheel drive. The fuel is petrol. Every figure for this car is given as it appears in the source data.

Services and inspections note the distance covered, so a car with an ordinary past builds up a trail of figures that climb year after year. Title paperwork often notes the mileage at each change of owner, which makes it a useful cross-check.

The main issue noted for this car is rear-end damage. Whether the damage has been repaired since, and how well, is not something a damage entry can show. With rear-end damage on file, the inspection should start with the boot floor, the rear panel and the chassis rails.

A key was there when the car was checked. 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. A car’s paperwork is scattered: the registry knows about owners, the workshop about repairs and the insurance company about claims. What a car has been through is seldom visible at first glance, and a respray can make even a badly damaged car look sound.

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, a rough idle, misfires or a warning light on the dashboard need looking into. The automatic gearbox needs its fluid changed at the manufacturer’s intervals, and invoices should show that it was. With four-wheel drive, mismatched tyres can strain the centre differential or coupling, so all four should be the same make and similarly worn.

Stamped into the body and printed on a plate, the VIN is the one identifier that stays with a car through every owner, registration and repair. The record gives the VIN as 5XYKTDA24CG269995. Scratches, fresh paint or a replaced plate around the VIN markings are warning signs in their own right.

A VIN report gathers what different sources know about a car, such as the number of owners, mileage readings, damage and any branded title. A professional inspection makes sense whatever the paperwork shows, because no report measures corrosion, worn bushes or a poor repair. Look up the history of VIN 5XYKTDA24CG269995 first, and let what it shows guide the inspection.