2002 LEXUS RX 300 VIN JTJGF10U320145572

The Lexus RX 300 described here left the factory in 2002. The drivetrain combines an automatic gearbox with front-wheel drive. The fuel is petrol. The specification is taken from the source data and has not been checked against other documents.

The recorded mileage is 292,318 miles. The instruments count in miles; the same distance in kilometres is about 1.6 times the figure. 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.

Primary damage in the record: side. A damage entry is a starting point for the inspection, telling the mechanic where to look first. With side damage on file, the inspection should start with the door pillars, the sills and the side airbags.

When checked, the car could be started and driven under its own power. A key was noted with the car. Running condition describes a single moment, and standing or work done since can change it.

The car carries a salvage title. Titles of this type are issued to cars declared a total loss. If any work has been done on the car since, photos and invoices should show what was replaced.

A car’s history is everything logged against it since it left the factory: registrations and owners, inspections, repairs and insurance claims. 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.

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. The automatic gearbox should respond smoothly and without delay; jerks, slipping or hesitation on a test drive need investigating.

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. This Lexus RX 300 has the VIN JTJGF10U320145572. A VIN that differs between the documents and the car, or shows signs of tampering, is reason enough to walk away.

Where entries exist, a VIN check can show changes of owner, past mileage readings, reported damage and whether the car is listed as stolen. 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. The history behind VIN JTJGF10U320145572 is the natural starting point before any decision about this Lexus RX 300.