The chap next door has a rusty van and its parked only about 3 feet from my very sporty Fiesta. I have noticed that his girlfriend never parks her Corsa closer than about 20 feet away.

People at work tell me this is because rust transfers from one car to another and will eventually write mine off.

What can I do about it.

Do you think the chap would stop parking his van on the drive if I asked him.

Am I right to be worried.

If you believe that you will believe anything............

I was going to suggest planting some miniature conifers or similar, densely foliaged hardy perennials between the drives as these are famous for slowing the progress of the airborne rust particles but seeing as you have THE most sportiest of Fiesta's, I'd say be very careful as the Zetec S is notorious for attracting stray branches which will cause irreparable damage to any paintwork that comes into contact with the bumper or bonnet.

Even the smallest scratch will render the whole car unusable due to severe weakening of the whole body shell. This is greatly exacerbated if a rusty vehicle (vans especially) are parked within a 50 foot radius of your car.

The only way to be safe in circumstances such as yours is to move immediately to a detached property with a safe zone of at least 150 metres where no other rusty vehicles can enter or pass by. This will ensure total safety and piece of mind for you.

Some people will believe anything.

Rust would only transfer in this manner if your car was a VW or low mileage diesel. I would also worry about the possibility of DMF failure contagions if it were the latter.

One way to avoid this menacing migration would be a complete oil and filter change every 3,000 miles or 6 months, whichever comes sooner.