Korea is a great for motorcycling. Landscape is mostly mountains that means curvy roads beautiful views and excellent road surface. If you are motorcyclist don’t miss the chance for motorcycling in this amazing rider’s friendly country.
Offline motorcycle shops – this is typically motorcycle repair shops which owners sell used motorcycles. You can find such shops on city streets. In my experience prices are higher than the same items listed on Passo online store.
ROK riders community on Facebook – If you are new in Korea join English speaking community of motorcyclist in Republic of Korea on Facebook. Here you can find like-minded people and sometimes good offers for sale.
Passo.co.kr – website of used and new motorcycles, Passo is the biggest online motorcycle market in Korea. Here you can search through all offers around country. I sold 4 motorcycles I rode through Passo since I came to Korea. Because of high competition and open pricing policy you can find good offer for comparatively low price.
But website is all in Korean so you need to find somebody who can speak native language. I’ll give you some major tips you can start with. I hope this information could help you to buy your dream bike in Korea.
How to use Passo online motorcycle market in Korea
Passo is a big platform for communities and people there sell and buy different vehicles including boats, cars, camping vans, bicycles and even gear for paragliding, and also they provide motorcycle transportation from one city to another.
Lets imagine that we are going to buy Honda Africa Twin CRF1000L on Passo. Let’s go to mobile version passo.co.kr.
Then tap 바이크 to enter motorcycle store page, then tap the this input window to search specific motorcycle brand and model:
In opened window for motorcycle search first select 상세검색 button. Then select motorcycle brand you are interested in, tapping input window “제조사“ and then choose motorcycle model
Choosing motorcycle brand
We come into our first challenge – Korean words. Here is the list of some motorcycle brands in Korean:
Honda – 혼다
Yamaha – 야마하
Suzuki – 스즈끼
Kawasaki – 가와사키
Harley-Davidson – 할리데이비슨
Ducati – 두카티
Aprilia – 아프릴리아
Vespa – 베스파
Royal Enfield – 로얄엔필드
Daelim – 대림
In our case we choose Honda:
Select motorcycle model
Here is another challenge name of motorcycle. If it is not just letters the name is usually written in Korean. There is much easier with models consisting of capital letters. Other way (hard one) just leave model input window empty and press red button “Search” (검색) and the whole range of motorcycle brand will open. Then find desired model by picture, write down or remember the model in Korean and then select it’s name in this window: We select 아프리카 트윈 CRF1000L:
You can add more details in search filter such as manufacture years, price range and seller’s location:
Choosing location of seller
I usually don’t specify location to get more offers because Korea is not so big and transportation here is not an issue at all and it is also pretty affordable.
If you don’t want to mess with transportation choose seller’s location. Here is translation of cities and provinces into English:
Seoul – 서울
Incheon – 인천
Daejeon – 대전
Gwangju – 광주 (big Gwangju)
Daegu – 대구
Ulsan – 울산
Busan – 부산
Gyeonggi – 경기
Gangwon – 강원
Chungbuk – 충북
Chungnam – 충남
Sejong – 세종
Gyeongbuk – 경북
Gyeongnam – 경남
Jeonbuk – 전북
Chonnam – 전남
Jeju Island – 제주
Then tap “검색“ red button.
Motorcycle listings on Passo.co.kr
Order of listings
Tap on order of listings “button” and you have opportunity to organize listings: by date latest first only, by price, by year of manufacture and by mileage.
On mobile version now listed only available (not sold) motorcycles.
For example here is the listing of Honda Africa Twins and we are interested in second one. It is 2017 year manufacture.
Seller located in Seoul (Geumchon-gu)
Price is 1.100만원 KRW
In Korea, if the number is more than 10.000 the amount is considered as 만원 [Maanwon].
So the price is 1.100*10000=11.000.000KRW it is about 10.000USD
Let’s go inside the listing just in case you will try desktop version you’ll find this Korean words which is pretty essential for potential buyer.
Here we have:
- 가격 – Price in KRW
- 가격절충 – Negotiable price (가능 – possible /불가능 – not possible)
- 제조년식 (desktop version) – Year of manufacture
- 주행거리 (desktop version) – Mileage
- 사고유모 (desktop version) – Road accident (무 – without / 유 – with)
Unfortunately I didn’t find a specific field with information about whether the motorcycle has the necessary documents for registration in mobile version. Sometimes it is written in description and for sure it could be found in desktop version:
Translation:
No documents – 서류없음
Documents for new motorcycle registration – 사용신고 필증 / 제작증명서
For used motorcycles seller has document of de-registration -사용폐지 증명서
When you find model you’d like to consider as new purchase and if you are not fluent in Korean the easiest way is to find somebody who speaks Korean, communication will be much easier. If you don’t have anyone to consider as interpreter you can do it by yourself, you’ll have fun and a lot of experience.
Documents needed for registration
In Korea to register second hand motorcycle you need three document for registration your future dream bike:
- 신부증사본 – copy of seller’s ID
- 자동차양도증면서 – document of transferring ownership rights
- 이륜자동차 사용폐지증명서 – it is deregistration document, confirmation that seller officially unregistered motorcycle and returned number plate to transport police. It is the most important document given by authorities. Other two can be made by previous owner himself.
Simple tips for communication with seller
Communication in Korean seem to be difficult but when it comes to buying specific thing in our case motorcycle phrases in my humble opinion could be simplified to few phrases. So you can copy text in Korean and send it to seller through SMS:
- Hello –
안녕하세요! - Do you have all three documents for registration? (Copy of seller’s ID, document of transferring ownership rights and deregistration document) –
오토바이 등록을 위한 필요한 서류 세가지가 다 있어요? (신부증사본, 자동차양도증면서, 이륜자동차 사용폐지증명서) - Can I watch motorcycle directly? –
오토바이 직접 봐도 되나요? - Where we can meet? Please send me an address –
어디서 만나면 되나요? 주소를 좀 보내주세요 - What time we can meet? –
시간이 언제 괜찮으세요? - Can we meet at 2PM –
2pm 가능하세요? - I’m a foreigner. (I don’t know Korean well. Sorry*). –
제가 외국사람입니다. (한국어를 잘 몰라서 죄송합니다.*) - See you at 2PM –
2PM 만나요! - Thank you! –
감사합니다!
*This phrase is optional, but if you tell that in most cases seller could be more patient, attentive and helpful.
Reply for questions could be different so I recommend using EN-KOR translator and the best one I’ve ever used is Naver Dictionary it has usually proper interpretation variants. Common replies:
- Yes – 네
- No – 아니요
Buying motorcycle in Korea – payment and documents
When you come to the seller first you check are documents. For second hand motorcycle registration in Korea (more about registration process here) there must be 3 documents check them carefully name and ID number must be the same as in the documents listed below:
1. 신부증사본 – copy of seller’s ID
2. 자동차양도증면서 – document of transferring ownership rights. First and third table Must be filled up by owner. Seller should write name and put his sign. In Korea people usually use personal stamp instead of sign. Date could be written in later.
3. 이륜자동차 사용폐지증명서 – it is deregistration document, confirmation that seller officially unregistered motorcycle and returned number plate to transport police. It is the most important document given by authorities. Other two can be made by previous owner himself.
Transferring money
There are different ways of transferring money to seller for purchase. The most convenient and secure way to send money to seller is through Korean bank money transferring system. Through mobile or ATM directly to seller’s account name. So you will have official confirmation of money transfer.
If you are not in Korea yet and you worry that you don’t have a bank account. Don’t worry it is one of the first thing you’ll do when you arrive in Korea as teacher, employee, business or, you name it.
Sometimes I was paid by cash there weren’t any issues at all.
Take into consideration that there is a threshold below which you don’t need to pay 3% of acquisition tax. In 2016 threshold amount was 1.200.000KRW ~ 1000USD.
How I bought new Royal Enfield in Korea South
Buying new motorcycle in Korea is much more easier than used one. You just need to find official dealer through website and you are good to go.
This is my experience of purchasing brand new Royal Enfield Himalayan in Korea.
Next time we will talk about how to register your motorcycle and put plates on it! Stay tuned!
