Moving overseas - Part I

As posted previously here , we are moving to South Korea with my 987. As part of the "prep," 1. put the hardtop on and swapped the side markers with the OEM (just in case) + toggled to change the speedometer to KPH (as this is required) 2. changed the oil / filter (only after 8 months and 2,500 miles) with M1 5W50 3. replaced old brake rotors / pads 4. wiped the car clean (was too cold to fully wash in NE) and waxed 5. removed any "heavy" items 6. placed "light items" such as filters in the frunk and a car cover in the trunk 7. created / printed a "how to open the frunk if the battery is drained" instruction in Korean (and placed in the car; and the wheel lock placed in the glove box, just in case) 8. the moving company picked up the car on Jan 5 (and drove it to their warehouse) - with my title / registration / insurance card (will be returned in Korea) 9. asked the moving company to leave the frunk "unlatched" before putting the car into a container 10. the car (and other items) will be on a train / ship Jan 22 - and will likely arrive around Mar 5 - 11 (I will need to personally pick up the car at the customs) Fingers crossed.....and here is a view of the "Blue House" (where the president works) in central Seoul, Korea. Not necessarily reflective of Seoul, Korea because if you turn your head just 1 degree to your left, basically a concrete jungle with many high rise office buildings with horrendous traffic

Interested to watch you go through this process as I may be shipping my car overseas when I move later this year.

All the best to you, Hoster987. Your presense will be missed, as you have been a contributing member here for awhile. Sounds like you prepared you ride well, now you’ll need to find a new indie in your new home. Can’t say I’m not jealous, as I love Korean barbeque, and you’ll be at the epicenter of great food. Hopefully, we will still hear from you on this forum.

Hoster987 should not have any issues being able to share his experiences in Korea, he will just be in a different time zone in the other side of the world.. IMHO, the hardest part for him is the fact that you 'must be 100% aware all the time' where is your car because in your brain the bulk of the car is on the right side and when driving on the wrong side of the road if you are caught distracted you could get into trouble.. I got once a big eye opening while driving in Japan while visiting my former employer head office.. PS: Regardless we will be looking forward for his experiences .

Can you post the duties/other fees you have to pay? Shipping rates are pretty easy to discover, but the other stuff not so much!

In my experience, if you start off in the morning with no traffic in sight, there is a chance of being on the wrong side of the road and wondering why the first car you meet is coming straight at you. A quick correction sorts that out! David

Will be different per each country's requirements / regulation - apparently, Korea is "not too bad"

Fortunately, Koreans drive on the "same side" - I have lived in Japan as well in the past and the most challenging thing was backing up / reversing....

Obviously, each country will be different. For Korea, the duty is calculated: 1. MSRP / KBB "sticker" price when new x depreciation over the years: e.g. $50,000 x 7% (7% is the minimum value as my car is 20 years old) = $3500 2. PLUS shipping cost = $1600 or so 3. PLUS insurance cost (during shipping) = $400 (I declared $20,000 as the insured value) 4. Then ADD all three $$ = $5500 then multiple by 26.5% (per Korea regulation) = $1457 or so (the "final value" will be determined by Korean Customs and I expect around $1500) Note that this car qualifies as a part of my "international move" (along with my other belonging) hence the "lower" rate. If you are in Korea and import a car to Korea directly from other countries, higher rates will apply. You basically need to prove that you have been driving the car and not trying to do this as business (e.g., you registered / drove the car in the US for more than 3 or 6 months) Also, any duties are exempted if you bring (again as part of an international move) Korean-branded car(s) - e.g., Hyundai, Kia, Genesis or if you are military (I am not). In addition, I expect a few hundred dollars to be paid at the time of pick up for custom fees, and registration etc. Korea's "standard" license plate is European style so I need to get a "special" US-type of license plate which may cost a bit more (because of that US rear bumper requirement).