2016 FORD FUSION SE VIN 3FA6P0HD2GR342028

This entry is for a 2016 Ford Fusion SE. There is an automatic gearbox, with front-wheel drive. Power comes from a 1.5-litre petrol engine with four cylinders. Every figure for this car is given as it appears in the source data.

The source data puts the mileage at 189,833 miles. The figure is in miles and needs converting before it is compared with kilometres: one mile is about 1.6 km. A car that has covered this much distance for its age has worked hard, and a mechanic should judge the wear accordingly. A single figure proves little: what makes a mileage believable is a series of readings that rise steadily over the years.

The record lists mechanical damage as the main problem on this car. Two cars with the same damage label can be very different: one needs a few new parts, the other major work. Given the kind of damage entered, a mechanic should look first at the engine, the gearbox and the running gear.

When checked, the car could be started and driven under its own power. A key was present. 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 is everything logged against it since it left the factory: registrations and owners, inspections, repairs and insurance claims. No single office holds the whole story of a car: registries, workshops, insurance companies and lenders each keep their own part. A car’s past rarely shows on the paintwork: a well-repaired accident or water damage that was dried out is easy to miss.

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.

Stamped into the body and printed on a plate, the VIN is the one identifier that stays with a car through every owner, registration and repair. For this car, the VIN is 3FA6P0HD2GR342028. The VIN usually appears at the base of the windscreen, on a door pillar and stamped into the body, and all of them should match the documents.

A VIN report shows what has been logged: earlier registrations, odometer figures, damage entries, branded titles and theft checks, wherever such data exists. A repair paid for in cash at a small workshop leaves no trace in any database, so no report can list it. A professional inspection makes sense whatever the paperwork shows, because no report measures corrosion, worn bushes or a poor repair. The history behind VIN 3FA6P0HD2GR342028 is the natural starting point before any decision about this Ford Fusion SE.