Korean Job Discussion Forums

[hongdae2]

Where:

I got my car at skencar (Mokdong branch).

I strongly recommend this place for a few reasons:

The sales agent spoke decent English and a woman in the marketing department spoke near fluent English. They were both very helpful and spent nearly 5 hours with me while I test drove cars and did all the paper work. The sales agent�s name is Young Min Choi and the woman's name is Yao Muye. Let me know if you need contact info, or just call Yeongdeungpo-gu skencar-02-2068-0655.

I also went to other used car lots in the Mokdong area and it's pretty much like the Yongsan electronics market. Basically, they don't have any set prices on the cars and they'll try to burn you for whatever they can get. These places will have one huge parking lot full of a couple hundred cars and 10 to 15 dealers selling from the same lot. On the other hand, each skencar owns there own lot full of cars and the asking prices are on their website.

skencar provides a full inspection for the cars. You can check the condition of the cars on their website before you go in person.

The sales agents don't receive commission per car so they won�t try to burn you as bad. I don�t know if they get volume sales incentives though. They also don�t inflate insurance quotes because they don't get a cut of that either.

Process:

First I went to encar's website, http://www.encar.com/global.html, and browsed through the available cars. Next, I went there in person and pointed out the little things I wanted fixed before I purchased the car such as scratches on the paint or peeling tint. After, I test drove the car and made sure everything was smooth. Then, I negotiated the price and dropped it 100 000 won. If you pay cash, they can lower the asking price advertised on the website 100 000 to 150 000 won. Then I discussed insurance options. Finally, I paid for the car and no more crowded subways and ajumas poking me in the back to get off the bus.

Insurance:

At first, encar quoted me insurance prices that I thought were way too high. I bought a Tiburon and it has 2.0 liter engine but for some strange reason, it�s considered as a sports car by all the insurance companies. The logic behind it is that it looks like a sports car. Basically, it was going to cost me 1, 650,000 won for a year of the best insurance available (you now Korean drivers). I thought I could find it cheaper on my own so I arranged encar to give me temporary 1 week insurance for 45 000 won. Lol�..after some more research, I found out that they were quoting me the standard rate for insurance and I got insurance through Hyundai for 1,650,000. For cars like avantes or accents, the insurance would have cost 700,000, so make sure to take that into account before buying a car.

Fuel Tax:

The fuel tax for a car with a 2.0L engine is 374 000 won per year divided into 2 payments.

Title transfer:

You can get skencar to register the car under your name. It costs 40 000 extra to get someone from your gu-office to come to skencar to transfer the title. Then it costs about 30 000 for all the paperwork. I opted to go to the gu-office myself and save the 40 000 but in hindsight, I should have done it at skencar. It wasn�t too difficult doing it on my own, but it took a couple hours to do it myself (travel time, waiting at the office, going back and forth between the different sections in the office, etc...)

Parking:

I live in a villa without designated parking so I had to pay for a reserved spot on the street. In my neighborhood, the parking spots are numbered in groups. For example, the parking spot numbers would be like 65-1, 65-2, 65-3, 66-1, 66-2, and 66-3. You would pay for a 65 spot and could park in any spot designated with a 65. You can get the parking permit at your dong-office. It�s a really simple process and costs 40 000 won a month. Depending on your area and the availability, you might be put on a waiting list for the spot. I strongly recommend sorting out your parking situation before buying a car. I got a parking ticket on the second day of owning the car and it was annoying trying to find a space every night. You need a license plate number to reserve the actual spot, but try to find out what your options are in your area and if there�s a waiting list.

Getting a car was more expensive than I anticipated (mainly cuz of the insurance for a Tiburon) but worth it. No more transfers, waiting around on humid days for crowded buses and I don�t mind pissin off a few granolas. Oh yeah�.aircon is sweet.

I hope this helps you guys out and thanks to the other members on this site who have provided so much useful info about Korea

[xCustomx]

Thanks for the writeup. I've been browsing that site for the last few days and will try giving them a call or stopping by. Do you mind me asking what year the car is and how much you paid? I wish I could get a Tuscani or Tiburon, but as you mentioned the insurance rate is high and the gas mileage isn't great either, so I'm inclined to buy an Avante.
How much should I expect to negotiate the price down to? 100-150,000? If I pay cash then a total of 200-250,000? Thanks again for all the info

[Richard Krainium]

[SHANE02]

Great post thanks.

[lonestarkorea]

I've had three friends buy cars through skencar, and two were rather unhappy campers in the end.

Apparently the salesman assured both that the company gives a 1 month/2000km warranty on transmission and drivetrain. One friend developed a cycle timing problem (engine) after a week, and they told him that the warranty "only covers certain parts of the engine". Had to pay like 500k out of his own pocket. He had a Korean colleague check the fine print and there it was - basically the warranty covers only the parts that are never ever prone to break, like the casing, duh. I forgot if this was the mokdong place but since that company is korea-wide I assume they have the same BS "warranty" at all branches.

My other friend had his trannie blow out after 3 weeks and he got the same runaround. Only certain parts covered. Luckily, new or rebuilt trannies only cost about half or maybe a third of US prices, but that's still at least 600K gone poof.

I've owned 5 cars in my time here, all bought thru private dealers at big markets. Four were totally professional in the sense that they stood behind their product the few times I had mechanical issues after the sale.
Same convenience with paperwork, I only pay for the actual registration cost and they send me the new title in my name a day later.

The one instance with dealer I did have a bad experience with was with a guy in the countryside who tried to sell me a flood write-off with obvious electrical problems. I ended up buying another car from him which I of course overpaid for because he was the only game in the area and I was a newbie and desperate.

Oh, and I discovered the coolest car market for exotics by accident the other day while at the Yangje Costco. Right next to it is the Seoul Auto Gallery. Hundreds of high end cars like Ferraris, Lambos, Porsches, Jags, etc. Creamed in me trousers, nearly

[Hollywoodaction]

I've owned several cars here. The best bet is to buy from someone you know, whether it be a dealer or an individual (third car I bought was from a dealer we knew. He told us which cars he suspected might have been in an unreported fender bender so we wouldn't get any surprises 6 months down the line. I picked a very nice used car, one that hadn't had tons of stuff glued or screwed in the dashboard; but, I noticed one of the ball joints was noisy, so they had that changed for free. I had the struts changed at my own expense because I felt the car wasn't holding the road as well as it should (one clear sign that it isn't the alignment is when you stop and the car really dips at the front)).

Last car I bought was from friends. It wasn't the exact model I was looking for, but I had actually driven the car beforehand. My wife was talking with her friend when she started complaining about the dealers in our town offering her far less for the car than what it was worth, and the dealer who made the best offer was a 4 hour drive away. My wife and I had been discussing about changing one of our cars to something bigger that week, so she jumped on the opportunity and told her, "I'll offer you the same as the best offer that you can get from a dealer in this town". Got ourselves a used car for a fraction of the 30 million won that it cost new. The only work the car needed was changing two of the tires and having the alignment done.

I strongly recommend you get the alignment done to any used car you buy in Korea (computerized only, it's precise to fractions of a degree). It's probably one of the most neglected maintenance on cars here because most garages don't have the equipment to do it. Best 40 000won you'll ever spend on a car.

[hongdae2]

you can drop the asking price on the website by 100 000 for a cheaper car if you pay cash.


if you buy a tiburon/tuscani, try to find one that is completely stock. modified cars are driven harder and too much stress is put on the small engine....def not a 5.0 mustang.

1. look under the hood for any engine modifications such as headers, after market air filters, strut bars, chromed parts. these things are pretty easy to spot because they stick out from the overall look of the engine

2. take a look under the car and take a look at the exhaust system. If only the exhaust tip has been modified so it's bigger, then that's ok. a bigger tip is soley for cosmetic reasons and not performance. A bad sign is when the whole exhaust system has been replaced with an after market racing exhaust. A stock exhaust should be between 2-2.5 inches in diameter. After market exhausts are 3 inches in diameter.

you don't have to worry about other modifications if your car doesnt have 1 and 2 cuz you need to do these steps first before modding anything else.
thing like mags and low profile tires are fine....again it's only for the appearance. things like interior blue lights and useless gauges on the inside of the car are not a big deal but do indicate the age of the driver.

i recommend both the tiburon/tuscani and avante. they both have pros and cons. the main thing would be to stick with a hyundai (did i just say that...) cuz there are a lot of them and they are cheap to repair. the avante definitely has the advantage of cheaper insurance and fuel tax. however, a tiburon is pretty fun to drive.

skencar provides a 1 month warranty on major parts for cars older than 6 years and a 3 month warranty for newer cars. the warranty sucks anywhere you buy a car, whether it be canada or the states. your buying something that's used, so that's the risk you take. i'm sorry to hear about the other poster's experience with the blown tranny, etc. that sucks and i'lve got my fingers crossed.

good luck with buying a car

[mateomiguel]

good advice.

[blackjack]

[KumaraKitty]

We bought our 2001 Daewoo Matiz at a local car lot that my Husband's friend was working at. We paid 3,000,000won for it. It is in great shape, no scratches/dents, no fender bender history, bright red, clean, no crap stuck inside on the dash, and a really sweet Panasonic system with extra speakers and tweeters installed. After a few weeks, the friend called up and said we had better bring it in if we had any problems since the month was almost up and they covered it for a month. We noticed one running light was burnt out, so they replaced the light plus 2 small ones we hadn't noticed set low in the front bumper. They also changed all the fluids because we asked. They did all the paperwork for us, even had a do-jang(what the heck is that signature stamp called?) made up for me. They've delivered the car to my class each time, when we first picked it up and after the servicing.
I totally agree with the policy of buying from someone you know. It makes life a lot easier, and likewise, we got a deal(200,000 down.)
I love my car because I can squeeze through traffic anywhere, park almost anywhere and get into spots in a second. Easy to maneuver! My Korean friend who has always driven big SUV's is so in love with my Matiz(as are all my foreign friends!) beacause of the ease of parking! Yah, it may not be the fastest, but in this traffic, you don't often find yourself over 70km/h! I've made the trip to Seoul and Suwon, it held up fine at high speeds. Costs me 40,000won to fill my tank, with A/C on, it lasts a week. No A/C, a week and a half. I drive to all my classes, they are pretty spread out over Bucheon/SangDong, as well, I drive my Hubby to class and pick him up every day. I get about 220km for a tank, with the A/C on. (Hubby cannot survive without A/C!)
As a 4 door vehicle with decent trunk space and good fuel economy, I highly recommend a Matiz!

[Cheonmunka]

When you go to buy a car take some old engine oil with you. When the salesperson's not looking, spread a cupful around the engine block and plugs. Make a pool of it on the ground under the engine block. Try to get a discount off the price by pointing out how leaky the engine parts are.

Put a tiny piece of tape over the glove compartment latch. When you test drive it and hit a lump the compartment lid will pop open onto the salesperson's lap. Comment on how rattly the interior is.

[hongdae2]

[merkurix]

Good advice OP, since I have made my decision to stay in Korea for a long while, I am still deciding on a car, I am surprised at all of the upfront costs. They should make this thread a sticky.

[pkang0202]

[pest2]

Whats the point of owning a fast car in Korea???? Just get something basic that runs and the engine has had oil changes and timing belt replaced as needed and spark plugs changed etc etc etc ...



As an aside, I had a BMW 535i back in the USA. It had 230hp and a 3.5 liter engine. It came from Europe. It also had alot of torque... Alot of cars from Europe have big engines, too....