There was an incident in which a replacement driver for actress Lee Ji-ha crashed her Maserati into another vehicle, causing damages of over 30 million won ($26,000).
The automobile is insured but repairs amounting in excess of 30 million won has to be paid by the driver, meaning that the replacement driver, a 47-year-old Lim, has to come up with the additional payment.
This is a practice unique to Korea in which people call replacement drivers after having a drink to avoid getting caught for drunk driving.
Many engage in the job in the middle of the night for extra earning and they often get a fright when assigned to imported vehicles for fear of getting into an accident.
In another case, one replacement driver got into an accident in which the damage was 36.5 million won ($30,000) after which he had to cough up 6.5 million won ($6,000). He immediately quit the job.
There are some 8,000 companies engaging in this line of business with the market estimated at 4 trillion won ($3.6 billion) a year. The total number of replacement drivers is estimated 200,000.