2011 FORD ESCAPE LIMITED VIN 1FMCU9EG0BKB01974

This record covers a 2011 Ford Escape Limited, finished in blue. The gearbox is automatic. The engine is a 3.0-litre petrol unit with six cylinders. Every figure for this car is given as it appears in the source data.

The source data puts the mileage at 139,598 miles. The figure is in miles and needs converting before it is compared with kilometres: one mile is about 1.6 km. 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. A service book or a folder of workshop invoices is the simplest place to find past readings.

This Ford Escape Limited is recorded with front-end damage. A damage entry is a starting point for the inspection, telling the mechanic where to look first. A lift and a diagnostic check show what photos cannot: bent brackets behind a panel, chafed wiring or deployed airbags.

The car is recorded as running and driving. A key was there when the car was checked. Condition notes are a snapshot: the car may have been worked on, stripped of parts or left standing since.

Registrations, changes of owner, inspection results and accident claims together make up what is called a car’s history. A car’s past rarely shows on the paintwork: a well-repaired accident or water damage that was dried out is easy to miss.

For the engine, the service history matters most: oil changes, filters and the timing belt or chain are the entries to look for. On a petrol engine, a rough idle, misfires or a warning light on the dashboard need looking into. The automatic gearbox needs its fluid changed at the manufacturer’s intervals, and invoices should show that it was. With all-wheel drive, mismatched tyres can strain the centre differential or coupling, so all four should be the same make and similarly worn.

A VIN never contains the letters I, O or Q, which could be mistaken for digits; its 17 characters identify the maker, the model and the individual car. The VIN of this Ford Escape Limited is 1FMCU9EG0BKB01974.

What a history report can list depends on what has been documented about the car: registrations, mileage readings, damage, branded titles and theft reports. The absence of an entry is not proof that nothing happened; it may only mean that nobody wrote it down. A history report says nothing about the car’s present condition: the frame, corrosion, electrics and the quality of any repair are judged on a lift by a mechanic. The history behind VIN 1FMCU9EG0BKB01974 is the natural starting point before any decision about this Ford Escape Limited.