2013 FORD FUSION SE VIN 3FA6P0H75DR130827

This Ford Fusion SE is a 2013 model. There is an automatic gearbox, with front-wheel drive. The fuel is petrol.

The recorded mileage is 97,017 miles. The figure is in miles and needs converting before it is compared with kilometres: one mile is about 1.6 km. 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.

The main issue noted for this car is front-end damage. A damage entry is a starting point for the inspection, telling the mechanic where to look first. Whatever the cause, a diagnostic scan of the car’s electronics shows fault codes that a visual check misses.

A key is on file for the car. Months of standing can leave a car with seized brakes and perished tyres.

According to the source data, the car has a salvage title. Titles of this type are issued to cars declared a total loss.

A car’s history is everything logged against it since it left the factory: registrations and owners, inspections, repairs and insurance claims. The paperwork is kept by different bodies – registries, workshops, insurance companies and lenders – so the history of one car is spread across many places. A clean, polished car can still hide a serious accident, a flood or years of hard use.

An engine that has had its oil changed on time is far less likely to cause trouble later, and workshop invoices are the proof. A petrol engine in good order starts cleanly, idles evenly and pulls without hesitation. The automatic gearbox should respond smoothly and without delay; jerks, slipping or hesitation on a test drive need investigating.

The ninth character of the VIN is a check digit calculated from the other sixteen, so a mistyped or invented number does not add up. The VIN of this Ford Fusion SE is 3FA6P0H75DR130827. 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.

Depending on what is on file, a VIN report may include past registrations, mileage readings, damage entries, branded titles and theft checks. The absence of an entry is not proof that nothing happened; it may only mean that nobody wrote it down. 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. Before making a decision about this Ford Fusion SE, check the history behind VIN 3FA6P0H75DR130827.