Import car repair costs 3 times that of domestic vehicle

The average repair cost of imported cars amounted to three times that of domestic vehicles last year, a report showed.

According to the "current situation of auto insurance subscription and damage claims for passenger cars," released on Sunday by the Korea Insurance Development Institute, the average repair cost of imported cars amounted to 2.76 million won (2,720 U.S. dollars) as of late last year, which is about 2.9 times that of domestic vehicles (940,000 or 927 dollars). The average price of imported vehicles (34.79 million won or 34,290 dollars) was also about three times that of domestic vehicles (11.48 million won or 11,320 dollars). The average price of auto parts used to fix imported vehicles per accident amounted to 2 million won (1,970 dollars), about 4.7 times that of domestic cars (430,000 won or 423 dollars). The average rental cost for a substitutive car for an imported vehicle (1.31 million won or 1,290 dollars) after a traffic accident was also far higher than that for a domestic vehicle (400,000 won or 394 dollars).

A source at the institute said, “Repair costs were higher (than domestic cars) and the time needed for repair was longer for imported vehicles, because the inventory of auto parts required for repair are not sufficient in Korea.”