Korea Periodic Car Inspection for Foreign Residents

What the periodic inspection is, how long it stays valid, what this page calculates, where to find your date, extensions, and the points people often get wrong.

What the periodic inspection is

Article 43 of the Motor Vehicle Management Act requires every car owner in Korea to have the car inspected at set intervals after registration. It applies to any car registered here, including cars owned by foreign residents.

The intervals are in Annex 15-2 of the enforcement rules. A private passenger car of any size is valid for 2 years, with a longer first period for a car registered brand new.

Inspections are done at Korea Transportation Safety Authority (TS) centers or at designated repair shops. Cars registered in comprehensive-inspection areas take the comprehensive inspection, which adds an emissions test, once they pass a set age.

Validity and the inspection window

A December 17, 2024 amendment raised the first validity for new private cars from 4 to 5 years. Its addenda apply the 5 years only to cars first registered on or after January 1, 2025, so new cars registered in 2024 or earlier keep 4 years.

Validity counts from the registration date. After an inspection it counts from the next day, but if you passed inside the window it counts from the day after the previous expiry date (Art. 74). The period ends the day before the same date in the last year (Civil Act Art. 160).

You can take the inspection from 90 days before to 31 days after the expiry date (Art. 77(2)). The window widened from 31 days on each side on January 1, 2025; with both ends it is 122 days.

What this page calculates

From a first registration date, it picks 4 or 5 years by whether you registered before or after January 1, 2025, and gives the first expiry date. If that window has passed, it moves forward 2 years at a time assuming each inspection was passed inside the window, and says so.

From an expiry date, it gives the window and tells you whether today is before, inside or after it. If after, it shows the days late and the fine band from Decree Annex 2. For the 31 to 114 days band it shows the formula, not a day-by-day amount.

From your last inspection date, it asks whether you took it inside the window. If not, 2 years run from the next day; if so, it needs the previous expiry date. The calendar file adds the first and last day of each window.

Finding your date and getting inspected

Your expiry date is in the inspection validity box of your vehicle registration certificate (자동차등록증). If the car has not been inspected since you bought it new, the first registration date should give the same result; if not, the certificate wins.

When your window opens, book a TS center or a designated repair shop and bring your registration certificate and proof of insurance. If the center can check your insurance online, you do not need to bring the proof (Art. 77(1)).

The TS line is 1577-0990. Fines and extensions are handled by the city, county or district office where the car is registered.

Extensions, transfers, comprehensive inspection

If the car was stolen, in an accident, scrapped, seized or under long repair, you can apply to extend the validity or defer the inspection (Art. 75). If the plates were seized or a suspension order kept the car off the road, the validity counts as extended until that ended, and you then have 31 days.

If ownership changes after the expiry date has passed, the new owner's window is 31 days from the transfer registration (Art. 77(3)).

A private car registered in a comprehensive-inspection area takes the comprehensive inspection once it is over 4 years old. Its window is also 90 days before to 31 days after the expiry date (Comprehensive Inspection Rules Art. 9(2)), and the late fine is the same line of Decree Annex 2.

Common mix-ups

Whether a new car gets 4 or 5 years depends on the registration date, not the purchase date. A car registered in December 2024 has 4 years. Some guides online say every new car gets 5 years, others still say 4.

Going early inside the window costs you nothing, because a pass inside the window counts as taken on the expiry date. Going before the window opens restarts the 2 years from the day after your test, which brings the next expiry date forward.

If you miss the window, notices come by post or text within 10 and 20 days (Art. 77-2). The days late shown here follow a district office notice; the amount on your notice is the official one.

Sources