2016 FORD FOCUS SE VIN 1FADP3F24GL207903

The Ford Focus SE described here left the factory in 2016. The gearbox is automatic, with front-wheel drive. The fuel is petrol. Details for this car come from a single data source and may differ from its documents.

The clock stood at 49,054 miles when the data was entered. The instruments count in miles; the same distance in kilometres is about 1.6 times the figure. For a car of this age the mileage is low, which is exactly the kind of figure that deserves confirming from older entries. 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.

This Ford Focus SE is recorded with front-end damage. Whether the damage has been repaired since, and how well, is not something a damage entry can show. With front-end damage on file, the inspection should start with the radiator support, the headlamp mountings and the front crash structure.

When it was checked, the car could not be driven. An engine that will not start could have a simple electrical fault or internal damage, and only diagnostic work can tell which. A key was there when the car was checked. Months of standing can leave a car with seized brakes and perished tyres.

A clean title is on file for this car. Such a title means no salvage, flood or similar mark was recorded against the car; it does not rule out damage repaired without a claim.

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.

An engine that has had its oil changed on time is far less likely to cause trouble later, and workshop invoices are the proof. Many modern petrol engines are turbocharged and direct-injected; where they are, the turbocharger and injectors belong on a specialist’s checklist. On a car that does not run, the automatic gearbox cannot be judged on the road; the colour and smell of its fluid and a diagnostic scan give the first clues.

A history check works by VIN because the number never changes, unlike registration plates and owners. The record gives the VIN as 1FADP3F24GL207903. 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.

Where entries exist, a VIN check can show changes of owner, past mileage readings, reported damage and whether the car is listed as stolen. No report is complete: a repair done privately and never claimed on insurance leaves nothing to find. 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. Before going any further with this Ford Focus SE, it makes sense to look up VIN 1FADP3F24GL207903.