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Korean Job Discussion Forums "The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
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NMonk
Joined: 19 Oct 2009 Location: South Korea
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 5:26 pm Post subject: Thinking of buying a car |
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So, im thinking of buying a car and was wondering if anyone could offer me any advice, i heard you can get something that will get you from a to b for about 1mil won, is this realistic?
How difficult is it to get a Korean drivers licence and whats the worst that could happen if i was to get confused and not realise i had to get one?!
Do you have to pay road tax or insurance here?
Thanks in advance for any help/advice. |
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exercise_in_futility
Joined: 11 May 2009
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 6:30 pm Post subject: Re: Thinking of buying a car |
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NMonk wrote: |
So, im thinking of buying a car and was wondering if anyone could offer me any advice, i heard you can get something that will get you from a to b for about 1mil won, is this realistic?
How difficult is it to get a Korean drivers licence and whats the worst that could happen if i was to get confused and not realise i had to get one?!
Do you have to pay road tax or insurance here?
Thanks in advance for any help/advice. |
1 million is not very realistic unless it's one of those cars from the Flintstones. i would say at least 5-10million for something that is operational.
Korean driver's license is not a walk in the park like in USA. Easiest way is to exchange your US license into a Korean one. otherwise, to get a korean license, you have to pass 3 tests: basic written test which is multiple choice (not sure if they have this in Eng.), a driving "obstacle" course type test, and finally, a road test with some dude driving shotgun.
Yes you have to pay for insurance and it can be costly. Also, some better insurance programs are not offered to foreigners. yeah it sucks.
Hope this helps somewhat. |
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azzwell
Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Location: where the girls from Super Junior cannot find me
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: |
1 million is not very realistic unless it's one of those cars from the Flintstones. i would say at least 5-10million for something that is operational.
Korean driver's license is not a walk in the park like in USA. Easiest way is to exchange your US license into a Korean one. otherwise, to get a korean license, you have to pass 3 tests: basic written test which is multiple choice (not sure if they have this in Eng.), a driving "obstacle" course type test, and finally, a road test with some dude driving shotgun.
Yes you have to pay for insurance and it can be costly. Also, some better insurance programs are not offered to foreigners. yeah it sucks.
Hope this helps somewhat. |
Actually this is not helpful at all. Used cars in this country are very very cheap. Koreans do not like to buy second hand so the market is just not there. There are used car places all over. For two million you can buy something very nice and about six-seven years old. Insurance is also dirt cheap compared to the states.
I have driven a car here for four years. I bought a 1997 Kia for around 1000 dollars, and paid too much. Insurance for the year is about 300 dollars. Repairs are dirt cheap, new exhaust cost me around 70 dollars, that was a new tail pipe, muffler, and labour.
To get a a K-DL, if you are from the states, just go to the DMV and take the written test in English, costs about 11k for everything. |
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mr. positive

Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Location: a happy place
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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My experience is nearly identical to azzwell's except my car only cost 500,000 won and I've never had a significant problem with it, and that was nearly a year ago.
License is easy to get, insurance is cheap... I have NO IDEA what exercise_in_futility is talking about. |
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NMonk
Joined: 19 Oct 2009 Location: South Korea
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 8:37 pm Post subject: |
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well one of the teachers at school who is 100% trustworthy over heard me talking to another korean teacher about this and it just so happens her husband (a banker) just ordered a new car and is looking to sell his for 1.5mil. All the Korean teachers at my school are definately trustworthy ad said its a good deal so sounds like a good deal to me.
BUT im from the U.K, is it just as easy to trade my uk licence for a Korean one?
Thanks for all your help, its really appreciated. |
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mr. positive

Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Location: a happy place
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 8:42 pm Post subject: |
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There's lots of cars to be had for less than 1 million, and they run well, so I'd only pay 1.5 million if there's a good reason. I suggest getting something dirt cheap, though - odds are it'll run fine, and you could still put several hundred thousand won into it before you'd reach the 1.5 miillion won mark.
Not sure about what to do about a UK license, though, but I'd *guess* it'd be about the same deal as a US license, which azzwell covered. |
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talltony4
Joined: 09 Aug 2004
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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I bought a 1995 Kia Sephia for 600,000. I thought it was dirt cheap until insurance cost the same (600,000). That's very expensive compared to back home, but the agent said the premium would go down if I kept a clean record.
As with all cheap cars I spent about 200,000 getting the tyres sorted and the servicing up to date. I would budget for this
You need to check your parking situation too. If you live in Seoul driving is a frustrating experience, so you probably won't use the car much. This means that you need a good parking space. It's a real hassle to have to move the car whenever someone calls you. |
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Ukon
Joined: 29 Jan 2008
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 11:05 pm Post subject: |
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If you got balls, get a motorcycle...it's much, much faster for tooling around seoul since you can cut traffic and go pass red lights. |
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NMonk
Joined: 19 Oct 2009 Location: South Korea
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 11:14 pm Post subject: |
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Im in Jeonju whih is fine to drive around, i mainly want a car as want to be able to go all over the country when ever i want. i figure there's no point being here for a year if i dont see as much as possible! and i cant ride a motorbike!! lol! |
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swinewho
Joined: 17 Aug 2009
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 1:03 am Post subject: |
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I'm from the UK and drive a car (legally in Korea)
People from the UK can exchange their UK licence for a Korean one without having to do the computer test (which the Americans have to do) -and yes the test does have an English version I belive, because I asked at the test centre.
You do have to have a simple eye test that takes 30 seconds, I wear glasses and was able to wear them whilst taking it.
On top of that you have to squat down and up once and thats it!
They keep your UK licence as long as you have the K one. You exchange it when you leave.
The eye test and 'medical' was something stupid like 5,000 won.
For the K licence that runs to something like 10-20,000.
You just need to fill out a form + provide 2 passport photos. The place I went to even had a passport style photo booth.
You can get a half decent car for 1.5-2.5 million, in the 1.5 range you will prop be looking at a 94-96 reg plate, with roughly 100,000km from my experience.
Happy shopping!
Oh btw it cost 100,000 to register a car in Korea. Make sure the car is clean from fines ect as well, which in theory SHOULD be pointed out to you when you register it!  |
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swinewho
Joined: 17 Aug 2009
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 1:08 am Post subject: |
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Also you need to take your PP and ARC card!
Make sure you go with a Korean + get the form before you get there. I belive my co-teacher downloaded it online somewhere, saves time + hassle if you fill it in before you arive!
Sorry I don't have the link/know where to get it from because my school sorted that out for me. |
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NMonk
Joined: 19 Oct 2009 Location: South Korea
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 1:27 am Post subject: |
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swine thats some great info, thanks for your help!! how do you find driving in Korea in general? ive driven in Africa and all through central america so i figure i should be able to handle korea?!!! |
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black spring
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 1:29 am Post subject: |
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Do you work for a public school? There's an insurance company for teachers that offers great rates. I signed up with them when I worked for a provincial ministry of education last year, and was able to renew with them this year after signing with a university. Have one of your Korean co-workers read the website for you and see if you qualify: www.educar.co.kr
Agree with what other posters (except that first reply) have already said about the ease of getting a driver's license and the relatively low cost of cars, insurance, repairs, etc.
You live in Jeonju? There are lots of fun country roads to drive around there - you'll love having a car in Korea!
Also, there's a great English map book for all of Korea called the "Korea Road Atlas." Don't have it in front of me now so I can't give author or publisher details, but it's available at Kyobo for 30,000 won (I bought mine in Seoul). You have to look in the Korean maps section of the store, though, NOT in the section where they have English books about Korea (where I spent over half an hour trying to locate it at first).
Last edited by black spring on Tue Nov 24, 2009 4:07 am; edited 1 time in total |
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air76
Joined: 13 Nov 2007
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:56 am Post subject: Re: Thinking of buying a car |
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exercise_in_futility wrote: |
NMonk wrote: |
So, im thinking of buying a car and was wondering if anyone could offer me any advice, i heard you can get something that will get you from a to b for about 1mil won, is this realistic?
How difficult is it to get a Korean drivers licence and whats the worst that could happen if i was to get confused and not realise i had to get one?!
Do you have to pay road tax or insurance here?
Thanks in advance for any help/advice. |
1 million is not very realistic unless it's one of those cars from the Flintstones. i would say at least 5-10million for something that is operational.
Korean driver's license is not a walk in the park like in USA. Easiest way is to exchange your US license into a Korean one. otherwise, to get a korean license, you have to pass 3 tests: basic written test which is multiple choice (not sure if they have this in Eng.), a driving "obstacle" course type test, and finally, a road test with some dude driving shotgun.
Yes you have to pay for insurance and it can be costly. Also, some better insurance programs are not offered to foreigners. yeah it sucks.
Hope this helps somewhat. |
This guy's advice might be some of the worst advice I've ever read on here. We paid 700,000 won for our car and it's been great, we've had it over a year now. The last time we lived in Korea our car was 350,000 won and ran great as well.
Getting cars fixed here is so cheap that there is no reason to pay more than 1,000,000 won unless you're really here for the long haul and want to have something nicer. Even then, for 2 million you can get a really great car. Anyone who pays 5 mil or more for a car here is just an idiot. At home you can rationalize it as fixing cars is prohibitively expensive, but in Korea it's a joke how cheap it is.
Insurance is dirt cheap. Call Gina Insurance in Itaewon. Sorry, but I don't have the number here because I am at work. The insurance is through AIG and it runs about 420,000/year.
I have a buddy from England who just got his license and I don't think that he had to take a test at all. If you're only here for a year you could probably get away with just getting an international license, that is what my girlfriend drives on. I have a Korean license and all I had to do was take the written test. They told me that only Canadians can exchange their licenses directly and that Americans only needed to take the test.
I didn't see if someone else answered or not....but yes, you have to pay road taxes. It's a few hundred thousand a year. |
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hochhasd

Joined: 05 Jul 2008
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 5:52 am Post subject: |
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I gather there is no one from America who just bought a car for 1 million won looking to take the car back to America. That is good,because if you are, I just found out that you need to get a letter from the auto company(Kia or Hyundai) stating it is EPA certified. If you do not have this letter it could cost you a min 25,000 USD to 50,000USD to get the car up to specs. Now your car deal of 1 million Won turned out to be at least 24 more of the same.  |
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