It is important to register your vehicle upon purchase. The car manufacturer, dealer, etc., are required by law to register vehicles at the purchaser’s request. Driving a brand new vehicle without registration can result in a sentence of up to 2 years or a fine of up to 5,000,000 won.
Each Gu (district) office
If you purchase a used vehicle from a car dealer, most of the time the dealer will apply for the registration for you. However, you can do it yourself. If you don’t apply for a registration transfer, then the previous owner can do it. You must register your used vehicle within a specified period of time (15 days for purchase, 20 days for donation, 3 months for inheritance, within 15 days for other situation) or you can be fined up to 500,000 won.
Each district office Cada oficina del distrito
※ If an automobile salesperson or an applicant of an automobile auction house sell or help find an automobile
※ If the transferor and the transferee make a direct deal, and the transferor personally confirms at the Gu (District) office whether the car has been transferred.
Foreigners entering Korea with the intent to reside for at least a year, or those accompanying a family member and planning a stay for at least 6 months are eligible to bring an automobile as part of their moving shipment.
Korea Transportation Safety Authority - vehicle and emission inspection information
National Institute of Environmental Research - information on gas and noise emissions
A change of address requires an application by you to alter your registration. Those who fail to register their new address within 15 days of their move (starts from the day of the move) will be fined up to 300,000 won. If the registered address of the automobile owner is also the base location for the use of the automobile, a registration of change in the base location of automobile use can be substituted with a report on the change of the owner’s place of residence.
Each district office
All foreigners, including citizens, military, diplomats, consulates, and foreign corporations can be insured.
There are quite a few auto insurance companies
Check the links below for more information.
All drivers are required by law to take their vehicles in for regular checkups. Non-commercial automobiles are required to have a comprehensive automobile checkup from the 4th year of use and a regular checkup every 2 years. This checkup should be done at least 31 days before the expiration date. The penalty fine starts to accumulate 30 days after your initial 30–day period. 20,000 KRW will be charged after the registration date. From that point on, an additional 10,000 KRW will be charged every two days. The maximum penalty is 300,000 KRW. However, if this regular checkup cannot be done within a specified period due to unavoidable circumstances, citizens can apply to postpone the checkup. The automobile checkup can be done at the Road Traffic Authority or at a designated private repair shop. In certain circumstances, such as long-term repair requirements due to car accidents, etc., you can apply for a deferment of the test. Regular automobile tests can be taken at Road Traffic Safety Authority or test locations from authorized private repair centers. In addition, automobiles, which are registered in an area, are required to have an exhaust gas checkup, and the effective period and method of the checkup and penalty fines imposed are the same as those for a regular automobile checkup.
The owner of a automobile can dispose their car at any registered junkyard with an automobile registration card and ID. If using a proxy (disposal agency) and not a registered junk yard, a certificate of the owner’s seal stamp of the automobile owner is required as well.
The time taken for disposing of an automobile is 5-10 min. After disposing an automobile at a registered junk yard, get an automobile disposal certificate.
※ If an automobile is disposed at an unregistered junk yard, a certificate of automobile disposal cannot be obtained. If some accidents occur to the automobile after the disposal, the liability will be on the owner of the vehicle, so a registered junk yard must be used.