2014 FORD ESCAPE S VIN 1FMCU0F71EUC38358

The Ford Escape S described here left the factory in 2014. The gearbox is automatic, with front-wheel drive. Power comes from a 2.5-litre petrol engine with four cylinders. Details for this car come from a single data source and may differ from its documents.

At the time of recording, the car had covered 191,975 miles. Because the clock counts miles, any figure noted in kilometres has to be converted before the two can be compared. Averaged over the car’s age, the mileage works out well above the usual annual distance, and wear on the suspension, brakes and interior should be judged with that in mind. A single figure proves little: what makes a mileage believable is a series of readings that rise steadily over the years. Figures carry most weight when they come from independent sources: workshops, inspection stations and past title paperwork.

The main issue noted for this car is damage to the right rear. The damage type is a short label: the extent of the damage and the quality of any repair still have to be judged on the car. Given the kind of damage entered, a mechanic should look first at the right rear quarter panel, the suspension on that corner and the boot floor.

No key is recorded with the car, and a replacement has to be coded to the immobiliser. Months of standing can leave a car with seized brakes and perished tyres.

Title status in the record: clean. A clean title is a good sign, though it says nothing about wear, maintenance or how the car was driven.

A car’s history is everything logged against it since it left the factory: registrations and owners, inspections, repairs and insurance claims. A car’s paperwork is scattered: the registry knows about owners, the workshop about repairs and the insurance company about claims. From the outside, a car with a repaired accident and a car without one can look identical.

Regular oil changes and timely work on the timing belt or chain decide how well an engine copes with age. Many modern petrol engines are turbocharged and direct-injected; where they are, the turbocharger and injectors belong on a specialist’s checklist. 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 tenth character of the VIN stands for the model year, and the eleventh for the plant that built the car. The record gives the VIN as 1FMCU0F71EUC38358. Scratches, fresh paint or a replaced plate around the VIN markings are warning signs in their own right.

Where entries exist, a VIN check can show changes of owner, past mileage readings, reported damage and whether the car is listed as stolen. A repair paid for in cash at a small workshop leaves no trace in any database, so no report can list it. However complete the paperwork, only an inspection shows the condition of the body, suspension, brakes and electrics today. For this 2014 Ford Escape S, the sensible next step is a history check on VIN 1FMCU0F71EUC38358.