‘Tolls? Who Cares?’ Vehicles with Chronic Unpaid Tolls Surpass 370,000

[Financial News] The number of vehicles that repeatedly failed to pay expressway tolls more than 20 times exceeded 370,000 last year. Although Korea Expressway Corporation has launched collection efforts, including imposing surcharges of up to 10 times the unpaid toll, the number of vehicles with unpaid tolls continues to rise each year.
According to data submitted by Korea Expressway Corporation to Jeong Il-young, a member of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee of the National Assembly from the Democratic Party of Korea, 374,000 vehicles had failed to pay expressway tolls 20 or more times last year. That figure was 2.2 times the 170,000 vehicles recorded in 2021, just four years earlier.
The problem is that unpaid tolls are concentrated among some chronic nonpayers. Although vehicles with 20 or more unpaid tolls accounted for only 5.7% of all vehicles with unpaid tolls, the tolls they failed to pay totaled 42.672 billion won, or 42.9% of the overall unpaid amount. They also accounted for more than half of the tolls that were actually not collected.
Korea Expressway Corporation imposes surcharges of up to 10 times the unpaid toll on chronic nonpayers and takes collection measures, including seizing vehicles and bank deposits, conducting on-site crackdowns, and filing criminal complaints.
However, the collection rate for surcharges has continued to deteriorate. The rate fell from 49.9% in 2024 to 37.4% last year. In effect, only about one-third of the surcharges imposed were actually collected.
Jeong said, "It is necessary to examine whether the current collection system is working properly and improve the system so that repeated nonpayment is reduced and ultimately leads to actual payment."
[email protected] Choi Seung-han Reporter