Here's what your full Carlytics report looks like

The specification, recall and known-issues sections behave the same way for any car carrying a manufacturer-issued VIN. A North American-built car decodes against North American reference data; a European-built car privately imported into Canada decodes against European data, because applying the wrong market's data produces a confident wrong answer — the wrong engine, the wrong trim, a recall campaign that was never issued for that build. Which set applies is decided by the VIN, not by where the car is parked.

The mileage section is where a Canadian report differs most. The sample shows a dated series of readings because the car lived in a market that records one at every periodic inspection. Canada does not produce that series in a form we can reach, so for a locally sold car the section shows what was actually found and, where nothing was found, says so. An empty row is the honest output; a modelled trend line would not be.

Nothing in the sample is a provincial title-brand history or an insurance claims record, and nothing in a paid report will be either. We hold neither. If a full Canadian title and claims history is the thing you need, buy the product that holds that data. Read our report as the specification, recall, reliability, theft and market-value layer that sits alongside it.

Market value is drawn from advertised stock, so expect a wider range on trims that were only ever sold in one market. A wide range is the honest answer there; a suspiciously narrow one on a rare car should make you more sceptical rather than less. Note also that a Canadian asking price and an American asking price for the same nameplate are not directly comparable once duty, taxes and the exchange rate are applied, so read any cross-border comparison as context rather than as arbitrage.

The recall section is worth reading carefully on any car that crossed the border. A campaign is issued against a build in the market that build was sold into, and campaigns are administered separately on each side of the border even when the underlying defect is identical. A car imported from the United States can show an open American campaign that was in fact completed before export, and a European private import may carry campaigns that no North American list mentions at all. Treat an open campaign as a question for an authorised dealer and that specific VIN, rather than as a settled fact.

Two sections will read thinner on a Canadian car than they do on the European sample. Import and registration records are one: we hold no provincial registration file, so that entry reflects what the VIN and its public trail establish. Accident and damage records are the other: Canadian claims sit with insurers and are not reachable at this price. And nothing anywhere records corrosion, which in this market is the fault most likely to end a car's life. Thirty minutes on a hoist is worth more than any of it.

Everything in the sample is unlocked, so you can judge the depth before spending CA$12.90. Run the free decode on the VIN you are actually considering first — it takes seconds and tells you whether that specific car is one the report can say a great deal about.