Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Chamchiman]

I'm not sure how the wind blows in Korean dealerships. For those who have bought a new car in Korea, does the sticker price stand or can a lower price be negotiated?

Also, in the past I never considered buying a smaller car with an automatic transmission, but here in Korea I'm not so sure what I should do. As far as small cars go, manual transmissions seem exceedingly rare here. (Don't ajummas drive sticks?) Resale value is a factor which should be considered when buying a new car, so if I buy a 5-speed will I end up shooting myself in the foot?

[Paddycakes]

Anyone here own a new Avante? I'd like to know if it's any good.

[Chamchiman]

[kprrok]

I bought a new car 4 months ago, and boy was it crazy.

1.) You cannot test drive the car.

2.) You cannot look at lots of different versions of the car. They have one in the showroom and that's it.

3.) You can't see all the different options before deciding if you like them.

4.) You can't see all the colors and different configurations.

5.) You can't test the stereo or any of the mechanics unless they're in a really good mood or slow.

6.) They expect you to buy the car before seeing it. They were actually talking finance with me and my wife, AT MY APARTMENT, before we had even seen the car in person.

7.) There is no negotiating on the list price. What's on the sticker is it. You may get the dealer to chip in a little of his own cash if he's hurting for a buy, but that's it.

8.) You will get a delivery date when you buy, but who knows when you'll actually get it b/c everything comes from the factory. There is no storage area for cars.

9.) Everyone I know drives a manual, so no problems there. Auto was about $1200 more.

What happened is my wife called a dealer and asked if they were open and had a Morning in stock for us to look at. She also asked how to get to the dealer since we weren't exactly sure where it was. The dealer offered to come to our apartment, I thought to bring the car to us instead of us to the car. Cool! Nope, he came in his own car, brought lots of brochures and tried to get us to buy the car, SIGHT UNSEEN!

Never again will I buy a new car in this country. I'll stick with used for me.

KPRROK

[Mr. Pink]

I bought a new car here:

Yes, no test drives. Or looking at options.

We got the guy to lower the sticker price plus throw in leather seats for free.

It definitely isn't like it should be.

Oh, DO NOT BUY A NEW CAR. You will lose like 1/2 the value on it when you go to resell it. Considering how much you drive here, not really worth it IMO.

[Chamchiman]

Thanks for the replies KPRROK and Mr. Pink.

Hmm. So in Korea we buy new cars on faith?

I'm not particularly worried about not being able to test drive the car, because I've rented the vehicle I want to buy on several occasions. (Paddycakes - if you're interested in buying a new Avante, it'll cost you 50-60,000 to rent one for 24 hours. You can do a lot more than just kick the tires when you have unlimited mileage and no supervision.)

[pkang0202]

[kprrok]

With my wife doing all the talking to 4 different dealers (we didn't like the first guy too much, as you might have guessed), none of them said they could lower the sticker price. That's even after we told them we would look elsewhere. The guy we bought it from ended up giving us a bit of a deal. He paid the delivery fee and the shipping fee to Jeju (about 200,000 total), he got us a free car care kit (I bet it was already included), a nice steering wheel cover, and a better set of mirrors.

The only reason I bought her a new car is her last car was used and she didn't want another one. I'll buy a used car when I buy mine. No more new cars for me.

KPRROK

[Whistleblower]

I had a wonderful time buying a new car. There was a lot of paperwork and I had to go to the City Hall numerous times to collect paperwork and get my 'Dojang' authorised to sign a contract for finance.

The lady at the dealership was very helpful and friendly. She still tries to help us when we have a problem and can sort out our car for free if there is a problem. She would pick up the car and drop it off for free for any servicing.

Btw, I bought an i30 and it was the best choice for our family. I would recommend you buy a car in a different colour rather than the factory black, white, silver or grey. Try to show off with red, blue, yellow etc. They are available but as the factory colours are cheap the dealership will try to sell you those.

Good luck.

[caniff]

[Hollywoodaction]

There's an abundance of used cars in Korea and the winters here are relatively mild. Don't waste your money. Rule of thumb: if it's a Hyundai that's been built in this decade, you probably can't go wrong unless it was in a major traffic accident.

[TheChickenLover]

I bought a new car last summer right out the factory. I've never regretted it for one second.

IMHO, 2nd hand cars are for suckers. New (with a rock solid warranty & absolute known history of the car) is the way to go.

Chicken

[Typhoon]

I bought a new car about 15 months ago;a Hundai Tucson. I bought the mid-level it cost me about 22 000 000 with all the crazy price add-ons. Options were a sunroof, heated leather seats (front and back), rear sensors, front window deicer, some headlight thing, and a couple of other things I can't really remember so I probably don't use them very much. Anyway I am looking at going home soon so I have been checking out the resale value of my car. For my make, year, and model they are selling at 15 000 000 Won-17 000 000 for cars with more KMs than mine (I have 17 000Kms). Say that is a loss of 5 000 000-7 000 000 Won. The resale is pretty awesome as far as I can see. However, I knew that when I bought the car because I was going to buy a used Tucson, but they were only 5 000 000 Won cheaper at the time so I figured the resale value would hold pretty steady. So no, some cars do not lose a lot of value off the lot.

As for test driving. I test drove a GM/DaeWoo Winstorm. I didn't like the stereo and the engine size for the weight of the car. Plus the GM/DaeWoo salesmen had no wiggle room in their prices. The Hyundai dealership I was dealing with also let me test drive the Tucson and the Sante Fe. I had to make an appointment, but I could test drive. A way to test drive if a dealership won't let you is to go to a used car lot, find the car you are looking (at last years model) and test drive that.

As for buying new, I am a happy. The Hyundai dealership had a lot of built in discounts so it was cheaper then the sticker. Also, the bought my piece of crap 1996 Avante for 2 000 000 Won which is about 1 000 000 Won more than it was worth. Overall, I could not be happier with my Tucson (I will probably buy one in Canada too) and I would tell anyone interested in a new car in Korea to consider getting one. The only bad thing is the limited colors available on the Tucson. Besides that, the experience of buying was buying and the car has been awesome as well.

[caniff]

[caniff]