1995 FORD RANGER VIN 1FTCR10A6STA62344

This record covers a 1995 Ford Ranger. Power comes from a 2.3-litre petrol engine with four cylinders. Power reaches the wheels through a manual gearbox. The specification is taken from the source data and has not been checked against other documents.

The clock stood at 205,296 miles when the data was entered. 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. Figures carry most weight when they come from independent sources: workshops, inspection stations and past title paperwork.

Primary damage in the record: right side. Two cars with the same damage label can be very different: one needs a few new parts, the other major work. Whatever the cause, a diagnostic scan of the car’s electronics shows fault codes that a visual check misses.

At the time of recording, the car ran and drove. A key was present. Running condition describes a single moment, and standing or work done since can change it.

A salvage title is on file for this car. A title of this kind usually means the car was written off as a total loss after damage. The structure and the quality of any work done deserve a thorough inspection on a car with a branded title, however sound the car looks.

A car’s history answers three questions: who kept it, how it was looked after and what went wrong along the way. The paperwork is kept by different bodies – registries, workshops, insurance companies and lenders – so the history of one car is spread across many places. Much of a car’s past cannot be seen: a good body repair leaves no obvious mark, and neither do years of hard driving.

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. A test drive says a great deal about a manual gearbox: listen for whining, feel for notchy changes and check that the clutch does not slip.

The tenth character of the VIN stands for the model year, and the eleventh for the plant that built the car. This Ford Ranger has the VIN 1FTCR10A6STA62344. A VIN that differs between the documents and the car, or shows signs of tampering, is reason enough to walk away.

A VIN report shows what has been logged: earlier registrations, odometer figures, damage entries, branded titles and theft checks, wherever such data exists. 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. The next step is to look up the history behind VIN 1FTCR10A6STA62344.