Korean Job Discussion Forums

[keysbottles]

I'm looking for cheap wheels for local driving. The prices on SK Encar seem reasonable. Has anyone here ever bought from them or know what kind of reputation they have? Does anyone have a dependable driver for sale? Looking to spend $1000 or less. thanks

[bassexpander]

Yes, I bought my car through there.

They are little more than a classifieds-type service that offers shop mechanics at certain locations which you can pay to check out the cars -- all wrapped-up into a nice, neat website.

I will use them again, but I will warn you -- the disclosure form on the site showed that there was a previous rear fender-bender accident on my car, but that all of the damage had been fixed.

It hadn't been fixed.

I didn't pay extra for a personal inspection from the encar people, but I think the car was listed as being inspected already, so I didn't bother with my own inspection. It's been a while, and I forget.

The problem was, the back right wheel was tilting in ever-so-slightly, and the tires didn't seem to set right. I drove the car around for a few months before I noticed it, but when I did, I was amazed I hadn't seen it before.

When I did notice it, I thought, "hmm... that looks odd.." so I started comparing my car to other cars at parking lots. Something was obviously not right.

They put it up on the lift at the Daewoo dealer, and there was some blantantly obvious damage to one of the long metal bars that adds additional support to the wheels and axle. If the "inspection" done on this car had been a full inspection, as they claimed it had been, then THEY COULD NOT HAVE MISSED IT. It was bent in about 3 inches, actually. I thougth for sure I'd be out a lot of money to get it fixed, but amazingly, that big part only cost about 17,000 won! They replaced it, and changed my oil in 30 minutes.

Bottom line -- don't trust whatever inspection the seller has had done -- get your own done, and be there to make sure they actually put the car up on a lift and check inside and out. If I've learned one thing about Korea, it's that "good enough to pass" by Korean standards is often quite different than in the West.

[hongdae2]

take a look at this link

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=88720&highlight=hongdae2

so far so good. my tiburon is still running smoothly and the sk garage is really cheap and helpful. i got an oil change, changed the headlight bulbs and fuel filter for 25,000.

[keysbottles]

Hey the link for full of great info. I am in Pyongtaek area. Does SK have more that one car lot? I couldn't find that information on their site.

[bassexpander]

Anyone can list with them. And many dealers do.

[hongdae2]

not sure about pyoungtaek, but they have skencars all over korea. you might have to get a korean buddy to check out the korean version of the site and you can find the dealer nearest you. there is an option to look at cars that belong exclusively to skencar only, and there is another option on the webpage to look at dealers advertising through encar. the cars advertised by the dealers were not on skencars lot when i bought my car. what i liked about encar is that they owned all the cars on their lot. i went to a few other dealers and they share a lot full of cars. basically, there will be one huge lot of cars and 15 dealers selling from the same lot. that means that you get a lot of different prices and inspections for the same car. encar has one lot and only they have access to it. one important thing to note is that the encar rep. doesnt get a commission on the car they sell you so they dont really care if you buy the car or not. on the other hand, if you buy from another dealer, your purchase determines whether or not they will be eating ramen or galbi for dinner. they also include a decent warranty for there cars. if your not sure about the condition of the car, get a 3rd party inpection. even though it'll be around 80,000 for a seperate inspection, it is always a good idea to get one.

[lonestarkorea]

Friend of mine will have a car for sale that might be interesting as she is leaving on the 6th of Dec.

[email protected] for pics/info.

[keysbottles]

lonestarkorea, email sent.