2010 FORD F-150 STX/XL/XL W/MID-BOX PREP/XLT/XLT W/MID-BOX PREP VIN 1FTMF1CW9AKE01252

This Ford F-150 is a 2010 model, finished in white. Power reaches the wheels through an automatic gearbox. The car runs on petrol. The specification is taken from the source data.

The record gives the mileage as 144,945 miles. The instruments count in miles; the same distance in kilometres is about 1.6 times the figure. A later figure lower than an earlier one points to a replaced instrument cluster or an odometer that has been wound back. Service invoices and inspection reports each carry a mileage figure, and lined up in order they show whether the clock tells the truth.

Primary damage in the record: left side. 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.

As a non-runner, the car needs its engine, gearbox and electrics assessed before anything else. The engine did not start. No key was available with the car.

According to the source data, the car has a salvage title. Titles of this type are issued to cars declared a total loss. If any work has been done on the car since, photos and invoices should show what was replaced.

A car’s history answers three questions: who kept it, how it was looked after and what went wrong along the way. What a car has been through is seldom visible at first glance, and a respray can make even a badly damaged car look sound.

When a car does not run, a compression test and the condition of the oil tell a mechanic whether the engine can be brought back to life. On a petrol engine, spark plugs, ignition coils and the cooling system are the routine items a service history should cover. While the car does not run, stored fault codes and a look at the fluid are the only early evidence of how the automatic gearbox has fared.

The tenth character of the VIN stands for the model year, and the eleventh for the plant that built the car. The VIN 1FTMF1CW9AKE01252 belongs to this 2010 Ford F-150. Scratches, fresh paint or a replaced plate around the VIN markings are warning signs in their own right.

What a history report can list depends on what has been documented about the car: registrations, mileage readings, damage, branded titles and theft reports. No report is complete: a repair done privately and never claimed on insurance leaves nothing to find. A VIN check and a physical inspection answer different questions: the first says what happened to the car, the second what condition it is in now. Look up the history of VIN 1FTMF1CW9AKE01252 first, and let what it shows guide the inspection.