The short answer
- You follow the exact same steps as a Korean — report to police → get a medical certificate → file personal injury and property claims with the at-fault insurer → treat using the claim number → settle. Your nationality and visa status do not change your right to compensation.
- With the personal injury claim number in hand, hospital treatment costs you ₩0. The insurer pays the hospital directly.
- Minor-injury settlements (grades 12–14) usually close in the ₩500,000–3,000,000 range. Taxi and bus accidents, though, tend to come in noticeably lower for the same injury.
There are two things almost every foreigner believes the moment they become a traffic accident victim in Korea. One is “I don’t have Korean health insurance, so I’ll have to pay the hospital bill myself.” The other is “They’ll pay me less because I’m a foreigner.” Neither is true.
The Automobile Damage Compensation Guarantee Act and the standard car insurance terms make no distinction by nationality. Your treatment is not paid by health insurance — it comes out of the at-fault car’s insurance policy, and under Korea’s auto insurance billing system the hospital claims directly from the insurer. So whether you’re a tourist hit at a crosswalk or a student clipped by a delivery motorbike, the process is letter-for-letter the same as it is for a Korean.
There is exactly one line item that really changes, and that’s how lost income is calculated. More on that below.
What should you do in the first 30 minutes after the crash?
Two things, and two things only: call the police and go to the hospital. Everything else can wait. These two cannot be undone.
At the scene, in this order
- Call 112 (police). Korean police run a three-way interpretation service for foreign callers — an interpreter joins the line. If you're hurt, call 119 (ambulance) at the same time.
- Collect the other party's details. Plate number, driver's name and phone number, and the insurer's name. The plate number alone is enough to trace the insurer later.
- Take photos and video. Vehicle positions, damage, your injuries, and — ideally in the same frame — the traffic light and crosswalk. Note any nearby CCTV and whether the other car has a dashcam.
- Get witness contact details. If a fault dispute breaks out, this single piece of information can flip the whole case.
- Do not settle in cash on the spot. Take a few hundred thousand won and walk away, and every future treatment bill and any late-developing symptoms become your problem alone.
Skip the police report and you lose the right to the 교통사고사실확인원 (traffic accident fact confirmation) later. That document — the official record of when and where it happened, whether both parties were insured, and the fault relationship — is what insurers lean on when fixing the fault ratio. A crash handled only between the two drivers leaves no police record at all, which means the certificate simply cannot be issued.
Why you must get a medical certificate, and get it fast
Because the certificate is where every cent of compensation begins. Your injury grade is decided by what the doctor writes, and that grade becomes the skeleton of your coverage limits and settlement.
The rule is to go the same day, or within two or three days at the latest. Neck and back pain often stay hidden right after a crash — adrenaline does that — and surface a day or two later. The longer you wait to be seen, the more room you hand the insurer to argue it was a pre-existing condition unrelated to the accident.
A myth about choosing your hospital
The at-fault driver's insurer has no authority to dictate which hospital you use. You get diagnosed and treated wherever you like. As a foreigner, picking a large hospital with an international clinic or an orthopedic practice with English-speaking staff reduces the language friction — and asking for the certificate in English as well gives you a document you can use for your home insurance or any later dispute.
What is the personal injury claim number, and how do you get it?
It’s the 대인접수번호 — the accident claim number issued when the at-fault driver files the accident with their own car insurer. In Korea’s medical system, this number works almost like a payment card.
Here’s how it works. Tell the hospital billing desk your claim number, and the hospital bills the insurer directly under that number. You never pass through a cashier. It has nothing to do with whether you have health insurance — which is exactly why even a tourist can get treated without paying out of pocket.
🏆 Three ways to get your personal injury claim number
| Situation | What to do | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Driver is cooperative | Ask the driver to file a personal injury claim → the insurer calls you with the number | Usually same day |
| Driver stalls or goes quiet | Call the insurer’s center with the plate number and accident time, and request a claim as the victim (direct claim right) | 1–3 days |
| Driver refuses to file | Report to police → get the fact confirmation → claim directly with the insurer | Several days to a week |
Check this when you request the claim
- Personal injury and property are two separate claims. Don't take "it's been filed" at face value — get the personal injury number and the property number written down separately.
- Take the name and direct line of the adjuster assigned to you. Every future conversation runs through this person.
- Keep records in text or messaging rather than phone calls. When the offer changes later, you'll have something to point to.
- If the at-fault vehicle is a taxi, bus, truck, or rental car, you're dealing not with an insurer but with a mutual aid union. The filing process is identical, but the negotiation that follows is a different animal (see below).
Can you claim for your stuff even if you weren't in a car?
You can. Property damage coverage is not just about vehicle repairs. Whether you were walking or cycling, if the accident destroyed something you were carrying, it counts.
The catch is that the policy splits what you had on you into 소지품 (belongings) and 휴대품 (valuables), and that split decides everything about whether you’re paid.
Belongings are covered — a damaged phone, laptop, camera, tablet, and the like, compensated for the actual loss up to 2,000,000 won per person. Valuables are not — cash, securities, wristwatches, jewelry, accessories, fountain pens, the sorts of things people normally carry on their body. And loss or theft, as opposed to damage, is not covered either.
So if the crash cracked your phone screen, property coverage pays the repair. If the same crash meant the cash in your wallet disappeared, it does not. Travel luggage and clothing count as belongings, but depreciation is applied for their age, so you won’t get the full price of a new one.
Property claim, in practice
- Photograph the damage at the scene. Photos taken later invite the comeback that "we can't know it was the accident."
- A purchase receipt or order history helps in the depreciation math. Without one, the current selling price of the same model is used instead.
- Get repair estimates from an official service center.
- Assistive devices like glasses and hearing aids are often recognized as belongings — always put them on the claim list.
How long can you keep going to the hospital?
Minor-injury patients can be treated for up to four weeks without a new certificate, and beyond that for as long as a doctor keeps issuing certificates that treatment is still needed.
This is a 2023 rule. Patients with grade 12–14 injuries were required to submit a certificate to continue treatment past four weeks, a change the government brought in to curb overtreatment. Flip it around, though, and it also means treatment continues past four weeks as long as you have the certificate. If pain is still there and the insurer says “it’s been four weeks, let’s close this out,” that’s not a regulation — it’s a negotiation tactic.
Personal injury coverage I vs II
Personal injury coverage I (mandatory liability) is the minimum every vehicle must carry, with limits per injury grade fixed by law. Losses above those limits are paid from coverage II — and most Korean drivers buy coverage II without an upper limit. Which means the numbers in the limit table are not the ceiling on what you can receive. It's a commonly misunderstood point.
What does a settlement actually end at?
For minor injuries, most settlements land between ₩500,000 and ₩3,000,000 — and lighter cases with about two weeks of clinic visits tend to close at ₩500,000 to ₩1,500,000. Look at how the amount is built and the range makes sense.
A settlement is made of four pieces.
① Consolation money is nailed down grade by grade in the policy terms. There’s almost no room to negotiate it.
🏆 Standard car insurance terms — consolation money by injury grade
| Grade | Consolation | Grade | Consolation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ₩2,000,000 | 8 | ₩300,000 |
| 2 | ₩1,760,000 | 9 | ₩250,000 |
| 3 | ₩1,520,000 | 10–11 | ₩200,000 |
| 4 | ₩1,280,000 | 12–14 | ₩150,000 |
| 5 | ₩750,000 | ||
| 6 | ₩500,000 | ||
| 7 | ₩400,000 |
② Lost income is the income you couldn’t earn while injured. This is where amounts diverge the most. Add proof of income and the settlement can more than double within the same grade.
③ Future treatment costs pre-settle the treatment expected after the agreement. It’s effectively settlement money in disguise, and it’s usually the card an insurer plays to push for an early close.
④ Clinic travel allowance is figured at ₩8,000–10,000 per clinic visit.
🏆 Mandatory liability (coverage I) limits by injury grade — enforcement decree, appendix 1
| Grade | Limit | Typical injury |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ₩30,000,000 | Spinal damage with quadriplegia, ruptured heart requiring surgery, severe brain damage |
| 5 | ₩9,000,000 | Hip dislocation surgery, patella fracture |
| 9 | ₩2,400,000 | Herniated disc, sternum fracture surgery, Achilles tendon rupture |
| 11 | ₩1,600,000 | Concussion, nasal bone fracture without surgery |
| 12 | ₩1,200,000 | Spinal sprain, sutured limb laceration |
| 13 | ₩800,000 | Simple eardrum rupture, dental prosthesis for 2–3 teeth |
| 14 | ₩500,000 | Simple bruise, finger or toe joint sprain, dental prosthesis for 1 tooth |
Do not misread this table. These amounts are the minimum your mandatory coverage must guarantee, not the ceiling on what you can receive. Most Korean drivers carry unlimited coverage II, and the actual payout is calculated on your real loss regardless of these figures. If someone tells you "you're grade 14, so ₩500,000 is all you get," that's not the policy talking — that's a negotiation line.
Why do taxi and bus accidents pay less?
Because the paying party isn’t a private insurer — it’s a 공제조합 (mutual aid union). Taxis (both fleet and individually owned), buses, trucks, and rental cars all fall under this umbrella.
📊 Private insurer vs mutual aid union — what the victim actually feels
| Item | Private insurer | Mutual aid union (taxi, bus, truck, rental) |
|---|---|---|
| Discretionary top-ups | A special-recognition system allows payments above the policy terms | No special recognition — policy terms only |
| Fault deduction | Standard fault-ratio table | Frequently pushes 20–30%+ deductions citing “not holding the handrail,” pre-existing conditions |
| Room to negotiate | Adjuster has relatively wide discretion | Conservative payouts; members are livelihood workers |
| Dispute channel | Financial Supervisory Service complaint & mediation | Mutual Aid Dispute Mediation Committee |
The result is that for the same neck sprain and the same number of clinic visits, a mutual aid union’s offer often comes in lower than a private insurer’s. The classic move: telling a passenger who fell when the bus braked hard that they “weren’t holding the handrail,” and charging them fault for it.
Negotiating against a mutual aid union
- If you're told a fault ratio verbally, demand the basis in writing. Fault apportionment is the variable that cuts your final amount the hardest.
- If they claim a pre-existing condition deduction, ask which medical record they're using as the basis.
- If the offer feels unfair, you can request mediation from the Mutual Aid Dispute Mediation Committee of the Korea Auto Insurance Association. There's no mediation fee (Mutual Aid Center: 1566-8539).
- If you were injured as a passenger, note that passenger injury liability on buses and taxis is treated as nearly no-fault. Don't accept fault in the first place.
What actually changes because you're a foreigner?
The procedure stays the same. In the money, exactly one item is calculated differently: lost income.
Korean courts split a foreigner’s lost income — when the stay is temporary and departure is planned — into two periods. Up until the point you could legally have worked in Korea, income is based on domestic earnings (your actual income, or a statistical figure). After that, it’s based on what you could have earned back home. How long you could have worked in Korea is set by looking at your reason for entry, visa type and terms, length of stay, renewal history and likelihood, and your current employment situation.
How it splits by visa type
- Tourists and short-term visitors: if you had no Korean income at the time, the principle is to calculate from your home-country income, your real place of living.
- Work visa holders: practice splits it — domestic income until the visa expires, home-country income after.
- No valid status: the courts' position is that the same logic applies as long as working itself doesn't amount to a civil offense against public order. In other words, being undocumented alone does not bar you from compensation.
There’s also a foreigner-specific pressure point: a departure date. An insurer will sometimes say “you’re leaving the country, let’s wrap this up now” and dangle a low number. Remember that the statute of limitations on a damages claim is three years from the day you knew of the harm. Leaving Korea does not erase the right. If treatment isn’t finished, there’s no reason to sign under the pressure of a flight time.
You can receive a settlement without a Korean bank account. Overseas remittance and receiving through a representative both work — just confirm the payment method with your adjuster in advance.
Numbers to call when you need an interpreter
| Number | Service | Languages |
|---|---|---|
| 112 | Police report — three-way call between police, interpreter, and you | Multilingual |
| 119 | Ambulance & fire | Multilingual interpretation |
| 1345 | Immigration Contact Center (Ministry of Justice) | 20 languages, weekdays 09:00–22:00 |
| 1330 | Korea Travel Helpline (Korea Tourism Organization) | 8 languages, 24/7 |
| 1577-1366 | Danuri Call Center | 13 languages |
| 1588-5644 | BBB Korea volunteer interpretation | 19 languages |
Before you sign the settlement, check this
A settlement is hard to undo. Run through these before you put pen to paper.
Pre-signing checklist
- Is the treatment actually finished? Settling while pain remains means you'll be paying for the rest of the treatment yourself.
- Is there a no-further-claims clause? It's the sentence saying you won't make any further civil or criminal claims. It's in almost every settlement, and once you sign, newly discovered damage is in principle unclaimable.
- Ask whether an exception can be written in for unforeseen after-effects.
- Get the amounts itemized. See consolation money, lost income, future treatment, and travel allowance each on its own line, and it becomes clear which item is being short-changed.
- Check the fault ratio — what split was applied, and on what basis.
- If you can't understand the full settlement document, don't sign. You can ask for a translation or an interpreter.
What if the driver fled, or had no insurance?
You’re compensated through the 정부보장사업 (government guarantee program). It exists for victims of hit-and-runs, uninsured cars, and falling cargo — anyone who would otherwise be compensated by no one.
To apply: report to the police, get treated, then file through any insurer you choose or through the integrated call center. Coverage is up to ₩30,000,000 for injury and up to ₩150,000,000 for disability or death, and you must claim within three years of learning of the harm.
When the insurer's offer feels wrong
Three routes exist.
| Counterparty | Channel | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Private insurer | Financial Supervisory Service financial complaints (1332) | Can request dispute mediation |
| Mutual aid union (taxi, bus, truck, rental) | Korea Auto Insurance Association Mutual Aid Center (1566-8539) | Dispute Mediation Committee, no fee |
| Either way | Hire a loss adjuster or lawyer | For minor injuries, weigh the cost against the benefit first |
For a minor injury, hiring a professional often costs more than the extra amount you’d win. By contrast, if it’s a serious injury (grade 11 or above) or one that leaves permanent disability, it’s worth consulting someone from the very start.
The limits of this article
The figures here come from the standard car insurance terms, statutory bases, and ranges visible in published practice. Actual settlements vary widely with the part and severity of the injury, treatment duration, income proof, fault ratio, and whether the other side is an insurer or a mutual aid union. This is general procedural guidance, not legal advice.
Sources
- Enforcement Decree of the Automobile Damage Compensation Guarantee Act, Appendix 1 — injury classification and mandatory liability limits (National Law Information Center)
- Standard car insurance terms — consolation money by injury grade
- Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, car insurance system reform — certificate required for minor-injury treatment beyond four weeks (effective 2023)
- Car insurance property damage terms — belongings covered per person up to ₩2,000,000 actual loss; valuables excluded
- General Insurance Association of Korea — government guarantee program for hit-and-run and uninsured vehicles
- Korea Auto Insurance Association — Mutual Aid Center and Dispute Mediation Committee guidance
- Supreme Court precedent and practice commentary on lost income calculation for foreign victims
- Ministry of Justice Immigration Contact Center (1345), Korea Tourism Organization Travel Helpline (1330), Korean National Police Agency 112 interpretation service