Hi everyone,
I’d really appreciate some advice or perspective from people who know how accidents and insurance usually work in Korea.
What happened
We were driving a rental car in Jeju.
The front of the other car very gently pressed into the side of ours at low speed. Our fault
To give a sense of how light it was: imagine pressing your thumb on a soda can. It left a small dent, but there was no push, no jolt, no real collision.
Police came, wrote a report, took statements. At the scene, no one reported injuries.
What’s happening now
The four passengers in the other car are all claiming bodily injuries (neck/back pain).
The rental company says this is normal under Korean law, and that we must pay a deductible of 300,000 KRW per person — totaling about 1.2M KRW (~700€).
Why we’re confused
If this had been even a moderately strong bump, we’d understand. Invisible injuries like whiplash are real, and we would take responsibility.
But this was such a tiny press that it seems almost impossible all 4 passengers are truly injured.
From the outside, it feels like insurance fraud, yet the rental company insists it’s just “the law.”
Our questions to you
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Is this really normal in Korea? Do people routinely file injury claims after the smallest contact?
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Has anyone else experienced this with a rental car? Is the deductible really per person, or just once per accident?
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Can we dispute this using the police report (which shows no injuries reported at the time)?
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How should we push back with the rental company/insurer?
We want to do the right thing if someone was actually hurt, but paying 700€ for what was essentially a gentle press, not an accident, feels dishonest.
Is this just how things work in Korea, or are we being taken advantage of?
Thanks in advance — really curious to hear from locals and expats who know the system.
— Two foreigners trying to make sense of Korean insurance rules
submitted by /u/ZoukiWouki
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