Jaguar Land Rover Korea, SUV All New Range Rover Sports (Image courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover)
SEOUL, Dec. 13 (Korea Bizwire) – In the South Korean automotive market, Chevrolet (a division of GM Korea) and Land Rover have been identified as the brands receiving the highest number of consumer complaints among domestic and imported cars, respectively.
According to data released by the Korea Consumer Agency on December 12, there were a total of 1,458 applications for automotive-related damage redress from 2020 to last year. Of these, 761 involved domestic cars, and 697 concerned imported vehicles. While domestic car-related cases were more prevalent in 2020 and 2021, imported car cases surpassed them last year.
The majority of the complaints, accounting for 868 cases (59.5 percent), were related to quality issues, followed by 375 cases (25.7 percent) concerning after-sales service, and 208 cases (14.3 percent) dealing with contractual issues. The quality issues primarily involved malfunctions and operational failures, while after-sales service complaints were mostly about demands for free (warranty) repairs or reimbursement of repair costs.
During this period, Chevrolet led domestic brands with 7.4 complaints per 10,000 newly registered vehicles. Renault Korea Motors followed with 5.2 complaints, KG Mobility (formerly SsangYong Motors) with 3.2, and Hyundai and Kia each with 1.2 complaints.
Among imported brands, Land Rover had the highest rate with 44 complaints per 10,000 vehicles, followed by Honda with 19, Ford with 15.2, Jeep with 13.7, Audi with 11.3, Volkswagen with 8.6, Volvo with 7.8, Mercedes-Benz with 6.8, and BMW and Tesla each with 5.9 complaints.
Of the damage redress applications, an average of 56.3 percent did not proceed to compulsory arbitration and were resolved through mutual agreement. Land Rover (68.2 percent), Renault Korea Motors (62.6 percent), and BMW (60.7 percent) had relatively high settlement rates.
The Korea Consumer Agency advised consumers to prevent automotive-related damages by ensuring special terms are clearly stated in the contract and by thoroughly inspecting the vehicle’s interior, exterior, and engine compartment at the time of delivery. Additionally, they recommended keeping detailed service records, including inspection and maintenance estimates and invoices, and capturing video evidence in cases of intermittent faults.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
