2020 BUICK ENCORE PREFERRED VIN KL4CJASB6LB003793

This Buick Encore Preferred is a 2020 model, finished in grey. Power reaches the wheels through an automatic gearbox. Under the bonnet is a 1.4-litre petrol engine.

At the time of recording, the car had covered 108,839 miles. A clock converted from miles to kilometres should be documented, since the swap can hide the true mileage. The mileage is high for the car’s age, so the suspension, brakes, seats and steering wheel deserve a close look. 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. Older figures usually turn up on service invoices, inspection reports and past title paperwork.

The record lists side damage as the main problem on this car. A damage type says what kind of damage the car had, not how serious it was or whether it has been repaired since.

At the time of recording, the car ran and drove. A key was present. Months of standing can leave a car with seized brakes and perished tyres.

A clean title is on file for this car. Nothing on the title points to a total loss or a flood.

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. Pieces of a car’s history sit with registries, dealers, workshops and insurance companies, and none of them sees the whole picture. 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.

The VIN is a 17-character code assigned at the factory: it identifies the manufacturer, the model and its variant, and ends with a serial number unique to the car. The record gives the VIN as KL4CJASB6LB003793.

Where entries exist, a VIN check can show changes of owner, past mileage readings, reported damage and whether the car is listed as stolen. Paperwork is only as complete as the people who kept it, so a report with few entries lowers the risk without removing it. 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. A history check on VIN KL4CJASB6LB003793 is the place to start.