2010 HONDA CR-V EXL VIN JHLRE4H7XAC010488

This Honda Cr-V EXL is a 2010 model, finished in grey. The gearbox is automatic, with four-wheel drive. Power comes from a 2.4-litre petrol engine with four cylinders.

The record gives the mileage as 165,168 miles. Gaps of several years between logged figures deserve attention, as does any reading lower than the one before it. A service book or a folder of workshop invoices is the simplest place to find past readings.

The main issue noted for this car is side damage. The damage type is a short label: the extent of the damage and the quality of any repair still have to be judged on the car. Whatever the cause, a diagnostic scan of the car’s electronics shows fault codes that a visual check misses.

When checked, the car could be started and driven under its own power. 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 salvage title. Such a title means the car was declared a total loss and can return to the road only after repair and inspection. A branded title follows the car through every change of owner, so it remains part of its history.

A car’s history answers three questions: who kept it, how it was looked after and what went wrong along the way. 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 petrol engine in good order starts cleanly, idles evenly and pulls without hesitation. 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.

Every modern car carries a 17-character VIN, and no two cars share one. For this car, the VIN is JHLRE4H7XAC010488. Scratches, fresh paint or a replaced plate around the VIN markings are warning signs in their own right.

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 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. The history behind VIN JHLRE4H7XAC010488 is the natural starting point before any decision about this Honda Cr-V EXL.