Korean Job Discussion Forums

gazz · Joined: 13 Oct 2008

Assuming you do of course Cool

!

If you post a response could you let me know how long you have been driving in K and what sort of car you have.

If anyone can recommend a decent insurance company that would be even better.

Cheers!

T-J · Joined: 10 Oct 2008 Location: Seoul EunpyungGu Yeonsinnae

byunhosa · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Location: Center Ice

I drive a Samsung SM5, and pay about 1 million KRW annually.

Horangi Munshin · Joined: 06 Apr 2003 Location: Busan

I drive an old Matiz. Have been driving for over three years here.

First year was maybe 600th. This year was about 350. Only third party though. I have enough to cover my ass if I am ever at fault. Been hit twice.

Be wary of car agents selling you cheap insurance. The first policy shown only covered 30million for damage/replacement of someone else's car!

Lynns · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Location: Korea

SM7, 850,000KRW with safe driver discount verified by home insurance co

I use AIG Korea, agent is Gina Agency Ltd. in Itaewon. They speak English. 02-794-7414

There's also a Seoul auto tax, payable in June and Dec, based on the size of the car, about 600,000 KRW/yr in my experience.

saw6436 · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Daejeon, ROK

W460,000 for the year. 2001 Avante XD. Covered through Hyundai.

gazz · Joined: 13 Oct 2008

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

I posted a lot about this in an insurance thread. We went with Lotte Direct this time around for my 2001 Matiz. I think I pay about 390,000 for full coverage. Lotte Direct used to be Dongbu, I think. Very strong company.

nobbyken · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Location: Yongin ^^

2001 Matiz, 58,oooKM, Kyobo Educar-PS teachers about 306K.
Looking to buy a bigger car as the daughter is stretching, so didn't choose the fully comp. option for 100K more.
Raised liability from 30M to 200M for 6K. Should cover my bumper if I'm in a mult-prand with a Porsche or BMW.

2 years ago, 700K for 4x4 old Korando
1 year ago, 440K same car, Ssangyong Insurance.
Changed this year, Ssangyong don't look to promising even though the wife's sister's hubbie works for them.

coralreefer_1 · Joined: 19 Jan 2009

Wow, reading some of these quotes convinces me that I got robbed.

Recently started a policy with AIG Korea to cover an old car a bought from another expat going home.

I paid about 460,000 won for only liability (I was told the car was too old to be covered under comprehensive). 96'Tico

On a side note, the agent (Kevin, referred from the Korea4expats site) informed me that because I am a foreigner, I cannot get a nice, plastic insurance card to carry in my wallet, and should just carry around some scrap of paper with the policy number.

Sad

nottanya · Joined: 14 Apr 2007

I use Gina agency, too. I paid 800,000KRW for comprehensive insurance. I drive a Kia Towner. I had a little bump the other day so we'll see how well they do when I want to straighten out the dent in my fender. With insurance comes a free help service for gas if you run out, towing, or other services. Nice to have.

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

Just a note about Gina Agency. They are a good deal for foreingers only here a year or two (my opinion), and I think (not 100% sure) you'd have an easier time as an American once you return home to drive again... being foreign insurance from an American company, AIG might be more helpful in keeping your rates lower once you get back to the USA, for example.

If you plan on staying in Korea long-term, you will probably want to look at the Korean insurance companies instead. Many of them offer more agressive discounts after two or three years than AIG does. In our case, the price was about 100,000 less (1/4th less), given my good driving record. Your situation will differ.

Also, Gina didn't have us in the Korean national system the other companies could view when they checked how long I'd been driving in Korea. I had been with Dongbu 4 years ago (motorcycle) and that was there, but not either of the 2 years I was with AIG at Gina's agency. This greatly affected the amount of discount I was quoted at other companies. Gina said it's because AIG insurance through her is considered foreign insurance.

We were, however, able to find a company that approved of me getting a discounted rate once Gina provided some paperwork. That company was Lotte Direct (formerly Dongbu) and it probably helped that I had had a good record with Dongbu insurance in the past. Other's wouldn't give me a discount (or just didn't know what to do). Gina provided the paperwork as proof I'd had insurance, but we felt like they didn't like having to do it (just our opinion), knowing we'd probably be leaving their agency once we got the information.

So to recap... even though I had paperwork from Gina proving I'd had insurance, most Korean companies refused to recognize that I'd been a driver in Korea during thoe years because I wasn't in the Korean system. This can be overcome, but it can be a pain in the butt because the person you're dealing with at the Korean company may not know what to do about it. Keep in mind, it took my Korean wife to get this all done -- I played little part in the matter. As you know, many times, the stock Korean answer when they don't know what to do (and don't want to bother checking) is just "NO." That was what we ran into with other insurance companies who didn't see me in the current system.

Hopefully this information will be useful to some long-timers in Korea.

itaewonguy · Joined: 25 Mar 2003

My hyundai Genesis almost 2 million a year.

My NF Sonata transform 1 million year