2016 MAZDA MAZDA3 I TOURING VIN JM1BM1W73G1299513

This entry is for a 2016 Mazda MAZDA3 I Touring, finished in blue. The gearbox is manual, with front-wheel drive. The fuel is petrol. Details for this car come from a single data source and may differ from its documents.

The source data puts the mileage at 94,882 miles. The figure is in miles and needs converting before it is compared with kilometres: one mile is about 1.6 km. Gaps of several years between logged figures deserve attention, as does any reading lower than the one before it. Title paperwork often notes the mileage at each change of owner, which makes it a useful cross-check.

In the source data, the main issue is damage to the left side. A damage type says what kind of damage the car had, not how serious it was or whether it has been repaired since. Given the kind of damage entered, a mechanic should look first at the pillars, sills and doors on the left side.

When checked, the car could be started and driven under its own power. A key was noted with the car. Months of standing can leave a car with seized brakes and perished tyres.

Title status in the record: salvage. A title like this is issued when repair was judged uneconomical or unsafe. A branded title follows the car through every change of owner, so it remains part of its history.

A car’s history is the sum of what has happened to it since it was new, and most of it has left a trace on paper somewhere. The paperwork is kept by different bodies – registries, workshops, insurance companies and lenders – so the history of one car is spread across many places. What a car has been through is seldom visible at first glance, and a respray can make even a badly damaged car look sound.

Many modern petrol engines are turbocharged and direct-injected; where they are, the turbocharger and injectors belong on a specialist’s checklist. On a manual car the clutch is a wear part, and a replacement in the service history is an ordinary entry rather than a warning sign.

A VIN never contains the letters I, O or Q, which could be mistaken for digits; its 17 characters identify the maker, the model and the individual car. This Mazda MAZDA3 I Touring has the VIN JM1BM1W73G1299513. 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 repair paid for in cash at a small workshop leaves no trace in any database, so no report can list it. A history report says nothing about the car’s present condition: the frame, corrosion, electrics and the quality of any repair are judged on a lift by a mechanic. Before going any further with this Mazda MAZDA3 I Touring, it makes sense to look up VIN JM1BM1W73G1299513.