2013 FORD EXPLORER BASE VIN 1FM5K8B89DGC35426

This Ford Explorer Base is a 2013 model, finished in white. The fuel is petrol. The gearbox is automatic. Details for this car come from a single data source and may differ from its documents.

The car was recorded with 181,906 miles on the clock. Miles and kilometres are easy to confuse, and a distance in miles looks lower than the same distance in kilometres. A single figure proves little: what makes a mileage believable is a series of readings that rise steadily over the years. Older figures usually turn up on service invoices, inspection reports and past title paperwork.

This Ford Explorer Base is recorded with rear-end damage. Whether the damage has been repaired since, and how well, is not something a damage entry can show. Whatever the cause, a diagnostic scan of the car’s electronics shows fault codes that a visual check misses.

No key was available with the car.

A car’s history is everything logged against it since it left the factory: registrations and owners, inspections, repairs and insurance claims. Pieces of a car’s history sit with registries, dealers, workshops and insurance companies, and none of them sees the whole picture. From the outside, a car with a repaired accident and a car without one can look identical.

Many modern petrol engines are turbocharged and direct-injected; where they are, the turbocharger and injectors belong on a specialist’s checklist. The automatic gearbox should respond smoothly and without delay; jerks, slipping or hesitation on a test drive need investigating.

Every modern car carries a 17-character VIN, its identity for life, and no two cars share one. This Ford Explorer Base has the VIN 1FM5K8B89DGC35426. The number in the car’s documents should match the one stamped into the body and the one on the plate at the base of the windscreen.

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. The past is on file; the car’s condition today is a job for a mechanic, who can check the structure, underbody, electrics and any repairs on a lift. The next step is to look up the history behind VIN 1FM5K8B89DGC35426.