This for sale ad is posted on a 3rd party site but for posterity, I’m sharing it here for my readers. No I don’t expect to actually sell this vehicle to a reader but I like keeping track of these things and no one reads this blog anyway :)
——-
Important BITS!!
- 2015 Ford Escape S (base model, 2WD)
- 2.5L direct injected motor (no turbo)
- Located in Enfield, New Hampshire USA 03748
- 275,100 miles as of this writing and getting about 250 miles a week until Winter ends.
- PRICE: $5,000 FIRM (will lower the price until May 1st when I’ll start accepting offers)
I’m the 2nd owner, this car came to me with 258,000 miles on December 1st, 2018. Here’s a snapshot of the CarFax data before I took ownership:
This car’s home was North Texas and it was a fleet vehicle. Here it is in its former life:
I took this photo in July 2015 right after it went into service and was shipped from New Hampshire down to Texas along with 30 other mobile mapping vans scattered around North America. This vehicle was never driven in the salt or snow until I purchased it as a part of an employee lottery my work does where every 3 years, the fleet vehicles all hit 250,000 miles and are retired and sold to employees at below blue book value.
I received an Excel spreadsheet (sample below) with $22,088 dollars worth of maintenance performed in those 250,000 miles almost always at Ford Dealerships or ‘partner mechanics’ in our fleet network using always OEM parts. the rule is, as soon as something breaks, they get it fixed with OEM parts at a Ford mechanic as soon as possible, absolutely no delay.
Oil changes were done every 3,000 miles roughly every 10 days
This car was a highway miler. It wasn’t used in stop & go traffic, courier services, take out or taxis. It lived its life on Federal & state Interstate Highways and was never in an accident and generally well loved. The fact that you don’t have a turbocharger or all wheel drive makes this a highly desirable Ford Escape in my opinion for a new driver, college car, etc. It has ABS, airbags, etc but low in tech & distractions for a young kid. Lots of space for college gear, back seats come right out.
Just a sample of some of the work performed sorted by most to least expensive..the spreadsheet is VERY long:
Since I took ownership on December 1st, here are some of the things I did…everything below was DIY or done at a Ford dealership…You’ll notice both lower control arms replaced because the bushings are not serviceable. I also did a full brake job, I’ve flushed all of the fluids and had the valve cover gasket replaced after I noticed Cylinder 4 had some oil above the spark plug and this fixed the issue:
259K Miles 12/4/18
- Engine Oil
- Oil Filter
- Cabin Air Filter
- Engine Filter
- Spark Plugs
- Wipers (front & rear)
259K Miles 12/10/18
- Transmission Fluid Changed
- Vinyl Wrap Removed
- Full inspection (PPI) performed
- inspected fluid levels, leaks, condition
- inspected belts, hoses, air filter
- inspected battery and connections
- car is in good shape (ford technician)
- Inerior Detailing performed
- Auto Transmission checked
259K Miles 12/12/18
- 4 Michelin X-Ice 3 Tires Installed (Tire Warehouse)
- Alignment Performed (Wilson Auto)
- Windshield Wipers Installed front & rear
258,614 10/23/19
- Oil Change
- Oil Filter
- Rear Brake Pads & Rotors SELF
- Tire Rotation
- Valve Cover Gasket
- Front orange lamp out SELF
- $715
264,000 10/30/19
- Rear Pads & Rotors replaced
264,080 11/15/19
- Front passenger Control arm replaced
11/18/19
- Alignment
269,960 10/18/20
- Air Filter
- Oil and filter
——-
Why am I selling this amazing vehicle? Well, it’s been my winter beater for the last 3 winters. It’s a very competent vehicle in the snow so long as you’re not climbing a steep icy hill and it is now showing some signs of rust thanks to our Northeastern Winters. When I first got it, it was rust free.
I need to downsize my fleet. We have 4 cars, 3 out of 4 are paid off but I need a truck for hauling motorcycles around..no way around it. The Ford Escape could be my Winter beater for another 10 years easily as I’m only putting 5,000 miles a year on it. I have no issue knowing she has 50,000 miles left in her without needing anything but routine maintenance. I have my ford dealer do an inspection for $150 every spring before I put it in storage and I subsequently fix everything that needs to be fixed before next winter’s season.
The transmission has an annoying clunk from 2nd to 3rd gear but if you read online, this generation they all do that. It never mis-shifts or has any problems indicative of a transmission failure and the transmission was replaced at 124,204 miles to the tune of $3500. I always told myself if the trans goes, that’d be the end of it for me but I still think it’s a healthy puller.
Fuel economy is:
so we’re going to be selling this plus my all electric 2019 Hyundai Ioniq in the next couple of months (look out for that ad soon).
I’m willing to drive this thing about 10 hours in any direction if you’ll pay for my flight back and I’ll cover the gas.
oh and one more thing, the paint never saw any UV light until I unwrapped it. It was wrapped with Vinyl in 2015 and stayed wrapped until 2018 when I bought it. The paint was in amazing shape when I took that wrap off. kind of cool!
It’s my opinion the the price is representative of just below NADA Guides value and if I’m being honest, it’s exactly what I’ve put into it, purchase price + maintenance. I’ve never declined to do something that 2 mechanicals told me should be done so there’s no maintenance outstanding on this car that will bite you in the butt when it comes time to be inspected. I think NADA Guides put this around $8,000 USD but I don’t think you’re going to find another Ford Escape with $25,000 total in service & maintenance records.
I know my GF will miss it because compared to our 3 cars, this one sits up the highest. Here are a few photos:
