I'm planning on moving to Korea in January 2009 and going to stay for about an year or so. The plan is not finalized at the moment, but I think I'm 75% set.

Now, the problem is the car. I know I won't need my car in Korea as their public transportation as by far greater than driving your own one. But you can't deny the convenience and privacy (and other leisure) of owning and driving your own car as well. I have 2 options and it's freakin hard to make this decision.. any opinions?


Car: 2006 TL 6spd with about 10k USD to pay off the loan

Option1: Make it simple. Just sell it. Don't need a car.
Option2: Pay off, get the title, ship it to Korea. Use it for 1 year, and sell with a decent price.

Only concern with option 2 is shipping/insurance/tax and will it be easy to sell?

 

FYI
-Shipping/insurance/tax should come around 5~6k USD
-Accord V6 with same year, similar mileage is being sold at around 25k USD in Korea.
-Bluebook says my TL is around 20k USD as of now. So I know for sure there are at least 5K can go in for shipping/insurance/tax when I sell the car at the end (assuming my TL gets sold at the same price of Accord V6 at Korean market price)

 

Sell it now. If it was paid off I'd recommend garaging it for 1 year in US while you're in Korea. Furthermore, do you know for certain it will be 1 year max or is there the possibility your stay will be extended? If there's any uncertainty regarding your duration of stay in Korea then for sure sell the car. The car is a depreciating asset so no point in keeping it unused if you owe 10 k on it. The import tax is notorious for vehicles shipped into Asian countries, it's not worth 20-25% of car value for shipping and tax alone for 1 year usage. For all you know, Koreans might not want a TL since it's not a Hyundai

 

if it was me i'd do option 1. you won't need a car that much in Korea since everyone either walks or takes a train/mass transit to places. if you need to go somewhere fast you can always call a cab.
take that money pay off the TL, take whats left over put it in the bank. don't touch it. when you come back from Korea you have a nice payment for a new ride.

 

It's more of 30~35% ship/tax/insurance I believe. But as I stated, I can sell the car for more than what I can here. So in the end, that'll somewhat take care of the shipping, if not all of it.

I lived in Korea before and I go there maybe every 2 years or so. I know I don't need a car for my daily living.






I think I'm sort of looking for a good reason NOT to ship the car...

 

True. But you're fronting the 30% now for shipping/tax in the hope of recouping your loss at time of sale. That's 5-6K you could be investing. There's no "guarantee" you can sell the TL at your desired price in 1 year. Who knows how the economy in Korea will be or what impact the next generation TL will have on value of the current generation TL. There's a lot of "what ifs" with your scenario. Why deal with the headache for a car you're not even going to use as a daily driver?

I think you've answered your own question

 

sell.

 

sell

 

Not sure why this is still a discussion... but I'll chime in.








Sell.

 

Sell

 

sold!

 

i say sell also.

 

you know.. it's so much easier to pick up girls when you have a car....
and girls in Seoul (especially from ApGooJungDong) are...

 

sell

 

Kind of off-topic, but I do agree that girls in East Asia are pretty car conscious although they seem to dig euro models the most. My best friend dated a Korean bar chick and she has a clean IS250. I dated a Japanese girl with a pretty thick accent but somehow she was able to pronounce Porche flawlessly "Por-sha"

 

Sell it. I wouldn't go to the extreme of shipping your car there...they do have cars there too, y'know. If you find you really want (or "need") a car once you're there, get something used, and resell it when you leave.

 

^ although I'm pretty sure I'll sell it, but buying a car in Korea is not an option. BMW 320i is being sold at around 55K USD there.

 

Sell.



There seems to be a trend here....

 

I was kidding when I said about picking up girls... I have a girlfriend in Korea. So the car would be much easier when I go see her or go around places with her (probably not so in Seoul... but you know what I mean )

 

Didn't read the post.

but Sell.

 

Lol, almost nobody here knows where that is, or what you're talking about. It's good that you have a GF, because you'll be spending mad bank trying to do ANYTHING, much less trying to pick up on girls, in 압구정동.

 

Who said anything about it needing to be a BMW?

 

meh.. I don't need to spend mad banks to pick up girls from 압구정동. Most of my friends usually hang out in 홍대 or 신촌.. but the place I'm moving to is in 강남 area..


I was just letting you know how much imports are going for in Korea... even Honda costs much more than what we pay here in the states

 

Sell.