Yes it’s happenned to me
My Godmother who I was extremely close to passed away, she always took beautiful care of her cars, my Father and his Brother decided they would sell her car to my cousin. I knew the car wouldn’t last as that family never had cars very long repeatedly, but her current one seemed to be ok so I didn’t think much of it. 3 years later I was attending a family event at the house. The car was a 77 Chevy Malibu Classic sedan. As I was walking down the street I saw a similar make and model car but it was beat to hell, filthy and had huge rust holes all over just below the back window between it and the trunk lid. 3 of 4 hubcaps were gone, a huge bash in the rear quarter panel, Chevy Blazer rims and tires on the back wheels that were oversized for the car and painted silver from a spray can. the front headlight cluster was crooked and hanging off from another accident and the front fender wrinkled. I was so sure this was not the car that I walked out into the street to the drivers side to see if it had the two small dents my Aunt had put in it in the door when my other cousin accidentally directed her into a tree while parking at his house. She was livid about it but it didn’t look bad and had no scratches so she never had them fixed. Anyway, sure enough, those dents were there so this heap was indeed her car, the inside was a mess and I was so disgusted I just walked away and her partner, who was with me...when I said OH my God, look at what she did to her car, she said “I know, I can’t even look anymore, Ag (Agnes was my Aunt's name) took such good care of it.” as she had been over to the house and seen the car on a few other occasions before me. That was one of my earlier experiences with something like this.
Now on the one hand, the car did have some rust spots starting but my Aunt had them sanded and touched up at 5 years old but they came back, the car was a 77 so by the time I saw it in such a mess it was now 10 years old. Consequently I came to realize that this particular series of GM cars, it was a 77 Malibu Classic...was prone to rusting out especially in northern climates with salt used in the winters and it spent its first two years in St. Louis and then 4 years in NJ never garaged as my Aunt did not have a garage, and then the remaining years on Staten Island, NY. Almost always parked on a street. The first owner drove it 40k miles in the first two years and my Aunt drove it 50k miles in the 5 years she had it. So perhaps, yes, the car deteriorated on its own some and was heavily used, but there was also a lack to maintain and care for the car, I never asked where the new damage came from, perhaps they weren’t the fault of my cousin, but from the missing hubcaps, wrong wheels, pretty dirty condition, it was apparent she wasn’t making much effort to keep the car nice.
I find it better to give something away or sell something to somewhere where I will never see it again if it’s going to bother me that much to see it dilapidated from poor care or lack of maintenance.
So while my Brother may not take the TLC care of the Aerus Lux Classic I gave him, it wasn’t new to begin with when I got it and I do know his habits, he uses stuff at a moderate rate, but doesn’t abuse either so it will likely get some wear and tear and I went in expecting this.
Jon
