2008 FORD ESCAPE XLT VIN 1FMCU03108KB34248

This Ford Escape XLT was built in 2008. The gearbox is automatic. Power comes from a 3.0-litre petrol engine with six cylinders.

The clock stood at 211,844 miles when the data was entered. Miles and kilometres are easy to confuse, and a distance in miles looks lower than the same distance in kilometres. The number on the clock proves little by itself; earlier figures logged at services and inspections are what make it believable. Older figures usually turn up on service invoices, inspection reports and past title paperwork.

No damage entry is on file for this car, and the bodywork still needs checking in person. Paint depth, panel gaps and the underbody show whether the body has been repaired.

At the time of recording, the car ran and drove. A key was noted with the car. Condition notes are a snapshot: the car may have been worked on, stripped of parts or left standing since.

The car carries a clean title. Nothing on the title points to a total loss or a flood.

A car’s history answers three questions: who kept it, how it was looked after and what went wrong along the way. A car’s paperwork is scattered: the registry knows about owners, the workshop about repairs and the insurance company about claims. A car’s past rarely shows on the paintwork: a well-repaired accident or water damage that was dried out is easy to miss.

On a petrol engine, spark plugs, ignition coils and the cooling system are the routine items a service history should cover. 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.

A history check works by VIN because the number never changes, unlike registration plates and owners. This car’s identification number is 1FMCU03108KB34248.

A VIN report gathers what different sources know about a car, such as the number of owners, mileage readings, damage and any branded title. The absence of an entry is not proof that nothing happened; it may only mean that nobody wrote it down. A professional inspection makes sense whatever the paperwork shows, because no report measures corrosion, worn bushes or a poor repair. The next step is to look up the history behind VIN 1FMCU03108KB34248.