148 Flood-Damaged Cars from This Year's Heavy Rain Are in Circulation... Be Careful When Buying Used Cars

18,289 Flooding Cases Recorded in August-September
Government Expands Disclosure Scope of Flooded Vehicle History
Partial Damage Vehicles Also to Have Flooding History Available

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong is inspecting the status of vehicles at the temporary storage site for flooded cars at Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, last August.

Amid a large number of flood-damaged vehicles caused by this year’s heavy rains and typhoons, it has been revealed that 148 vehicles were sold to dealers without being scrapped and are currently held by these dealers.

On the 14th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it had obtained information on 18,289 vehicles with flood damage history caused by the heavy rains and typhoons from August to September, of which 14,849 vehicles were scrapped (deregistered).

The number of vehicles that were not scrapped but transferred to dealers is 148, while 3,292 vehicles remain owned by individuals.

The Ministry plans to thoroughly manage flood damage histories to prevent victims in the used car market by expanding the scope of flood damage history disclosure.

As a follow-up to the “Measures to Prevent Illegal Distribution of Flood-Damaged Vehicles” announced last August, the Ministry promoted institutional improvements to strengthen flood damage history management, including expanding the vehicles subject to flood damage history transmission to the Automobile Management Information System.

For vehicles insured under comprehensive car insurance, the scope of flood damage history disclosure was expanded from September by including partial loss (partial damage) flood-damaged vehicles in addition to total loss flood-damaged vehicles, which were previously the only ones transmitted by the Korea Insurance Development Institute.

Additionally, consumers can now check flood damage histories for vehicles that were abandoned on roads due to flooding and towed by local governments for road safety or for which flood damage confirmation certificates were submitted.

The Ministry explained, “Through this institutional improvement, consumers can now check flood damage histories for partial loss vehicles insured under comprehensive car insurance as well as vehicles not insured under comprehensive car insurance, allowing them to identify more flood-damaged vehicles than before.”

The Ministry plans to strengthen inspections on whether flood damage history is recorded during vehicle performance inspections and whether dealers check flood damage histories through Car365 and notify consumers when selling used cars, to prevent consumers from unknowingly purchasing flood-damaged vehicles.

Consumers can also access “Car365” to check flood damage histories for vehicles listed for sale free of charge.

The Ministry stated, “Based on the flood-damaged vehicle information obtained this time, we will continue efforts to prevent illegal distribution of flood-damaged vehicles, including conducting on-site inspections of flood-damaged vehicle distribution (November 15th at Suwon Used Car Market).”