Unregistered Visit Road Training Warning... No Insurance Coverage in Case of Accident

Half-Price 1-on-1 Road Training Popular
Most Are Police-Unregistered Companies
Training Without Safety Devices Like Auxiliary Brakes, High Risk of Accidents

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] "Escape from the wardrobe license" "From the basics to driving and parking, we teach you by visiting you directly."

One-on-one road training, which does not require visiting a driving school and has relatively low tuition fees, is gaining popularity. However, there are concerns that many providers of such services are not officially registered businesses, so caution is advised.

On the 9th, a search on portal sites like Naver using keywords related to road training reveals many illegal visiting road training providers alongside legally operating companies. These illegal providers advertise that driving instructors visit and offer customized training for beginner and female license holders. They explain that the cost is about 200,000 to 300,000 KRW, roughly half the price of legitimate driving schools, and that weekend intensive courses are also available for working professionals.

However, most of these businesses are unregistered. For example, Company A emphasizes that it has been providing road training since 2016 and operates a blog, KakaoTalk, and a customer center with the representative’s name, location, and business registration number, but it is not registered with the police. Current Road Traffic Law requires that driving schools be registered with the chief of the local police agency when established and operated. Only those registered can legally provide driving education.

If caught providing driving education while unregistered and receiving payment, one may face imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of up to 5 million KRW. Currently, there are 392 registered driving schools nationwide, including 10 in Seoul and 83 in Gyeonggi Province.

A bigger problem is that these companies conduct road training without proper safety measures. Official driving schools equip the passenger seat of training vehicles with auxiliary brakes, but unregistered companies do not have such devices. Some even use the trainee’s own car to conduct training without minimum safety equipment. Although they emphasize that insurance coverage is possible in case of accidents, because they operate illegally, they sometimes demand costs from trainees if an accident occurs.

In 2018, the head of an unregistered illegal driving school that operated for about 10 months and collected 1.5 billion KRW in training fees from about 7,000 students, along with 60 unqualified driving instructors, were arrested by the police. A police official stated, "Taking driving lessons through illegal visiting road training increases the risk of accidents and may result in improper insurance coverage in case of accidents," and added, "We will strengthen crackdowns on illegal operators."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.