2017 FORD F150 SUPERCREW VIN 1FTEW1EG5HFB23270

This Ford F150 Supercrew was built in 2017. The fuel is petrol. The drivetrain combines an automatic gearbox with four-wheel drive.

At the time of recording, the car had covered 133,456 miles. 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. Older figures usually turn up on service invoices, inspection reports and past title paperwork.

When the car was recorded, it showed minor dents and scratches. A damage entry is a starting point for the inspection, telling the mechanic where to look first. With minor dents and scratches on file, the inspection should start with the paintwork and whether any dent has reached the metal underneath.

At the time of recording, the car ran and drove. A key was present.

A clean title is on file for this car. With a clean title the car can be registered and insured in the usual way.

A car’s history answers three questions: who kept it, how it was looked after and what went wrong along the way. A car’s past rarely shows on the paintwork: a well-repaired accident or water damage that was dried out is easy to miss.

A petrol engine in good order starts cleanly, idles evenly and pulls without hesitation. 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. With four-wheel drive, mismatched tyres can strain the centre differential or coupling, so all four should be the same make and similarly worn.

The VIN is a 17-character code assigned at the factory: it identifies the manufacturer, the model and its variant, and ends with a serial number unique to the car. For this car, the VIN is 1FTEW1EG5HFB23270. 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.

Where entries exist, a VIN check can show changes of owner, past mileage readings, reported damage and whether the car is listed as stolen. However complete the paperwork, only an inspection shows the condition of the body, suspension, brakes and electrics today. For this 2017 Ford F150 Supercrew, the sensible next step is a history check on VIN 1FTEW1EG5HFB23270.