Won Hee-ryong: "Strengthening Punishment for Secret Sale of Flood-Damaged Cars... Will Establish Measures to Prevent Damage"

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong is inspecting the damage status on the 15th at the temporary storage site for flooded vehicles at Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon City.

In the midst of widespread vehicle flooding damage caused by heavy rain in the central region, Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, announced on the 15th that measures to prevent damage related to the sale of flooded cars will be established.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Minister Won visited the temporary storage site for flooded cars at Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province on the same day to inspect the current status of the large number of flooded vehicles caused by recent heavy rains and discussed consumer damage compensation and measures to prevent illegal distribution of used cars with the General Insurance Association of Korea and insurance companies.

At the meeting, Minister Won said, "Some flooded vehicles inevitably need to be scrapped, but there is a wrongful practice of hiding the flooding history and selling the vehicles," adding, "Especially if flooded vehicles without comprehensive car insurance enter the used car market, it will pose a significant threat to public safety."

He added, "To fundamentally prevent such situations, a strengthened checkpoint role in performance condition inspections is necessary."

Minister Won also promised, "In cooperation with the Korea Insurance Development Institute and local governments, we will strengthen history management to prevent concealment of vehicle flooding facts, and even if vehicles without comprehensive insurance are individually repaired, we will improve the system so that consumers can more easily verify the flooding history of the vehicle."

Furthermore, Minister Won emphasized, "We will strengthen penalties for performance inspectors who fail to record flooding history in the performance inspection report and improve the system to prevent the reduction or concealment of flooded vehicle status during the repair process, thereby thoroughly preparing measures to prevent consumer damage."

Meanwhile, according to the General Insurance Association of Korea and various insurance companies, during the two days of localized heavy rain on the 8th and 9th, about 7,000 vehicles, including approximately 2,500 imported cars, were flooded in Seoul and Gyeonggi areas. The estimated damage amount reaches 97.76 billion KRW.

Among these flooded vehicles, the number of imported cars totaled 2,554. Since many high-priced imported cars were reported damaged, the estimated damage amount for imported flooded vehicles alone accounts for more than half of the total, reaching 54.21 billion KRW, according to the association. Considering the time required for insurance claims for flooded vehicles, the industry expects the number of flooded vehicle claims to continue increasing.