Logistics · South Korea · Final-year equipment-subsidy cliff

The last year of scrap money: Korea's grade-5 cargo-truck deadline.

Korea has 160,000 grade-5 diesel cargo trucks still working — down from 1 million in December 2020. After 31 December 2026, the government will stop paying anyone to scrap them. On 11 February 2026, Korea's Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment confirmed 2026 as the final year for the grade-5 early-scrap subsidy and DPF (매연저감장치, the soot-filter retrofit that keeps a grade-5 truck legal) support programme. The 2026 quota: 113,000 vehicles — 44,000 grade-5 + 64,000 grade-4. A small-business owner (소상공인) gets ₩1–3 million for the truck plus a ₩1 million top-up bonus, then has to buy a new LPG or electric Porter for upward of ₩20 million out of pocket. Drive an unmitigated grade-5 inside Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon or the six designated metro cities between December and March, on a weekday 6am-9pm, and you owe ₩100,000 (about $75) per camera read, per day.

TL;DR

What hurts Korea's grade-5 diesel-truck early-scrap subsidy ends 31 December 2026 — the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment confirmed on 11 February 2026 that 2026 is the final year for both the scrap payout and the DPF (a soot-filter retrofit) help.
How big 160,000 grade-5 trucks still on the road (84% collapse from 1M in Dec 2020); 2026 quota covers 113,000 vehicles; ₩100,000-a-day metro fines apply across Seoul + six metros to any unmitigated grade-5 truck during the December-March seasonal restriction.
Why startups win Run a turnkey trade-in service for 1-ton owner-operators — handle the scrap paperwork, file the government subsidy claim, and roll the payout straight into the financed deposit on a new LPG or electric Porter, all on one signed contract. 4 self-marketing Korean vendors cataloged below.

01The pain

Korea has 160,000 grade-5 diesel cargo trucks still working. After 31 December 2026, the government will stop paying to scrap any of them. On 11 February 2026, Korea's Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment confirmed 2026 as the final year for grade-5 early-scrap subsidies and DPF (매연저감장치, soot-filter) retrofit support.¹ A small-business owner (소상공인, a sole-proprietor under set revenue thresholds) gets ₩1–3 million for the truck plus a ₩1 million top-up bonus.² After that, the door closes.

Grade-5 stock has already fallen 84 percent — from 1 million trucks in December 2020 to 160,000 in December 2025.¹ The survivors are the operators least able to replace their tool of trade: small-business Porter and Bongo drivers. The seasonal restriction (계절관리제, the December-to-March daytime ban on uncontrolled grade-5 trucks) bites on top. Drive into Seoul, Gyeonggi or one of the six metro cities on a weekday 6am-9pm and you owe ₩100,000 (about $75) per camera read.³

160,000 grade-5 trucks left. 84% gone since Dec 2020. 2026 is the last subsidy year. ₩100,000-a-day metro fines after.¹

The math is brutal on a 1-ton owner-operator margin. Take the scrap payout and buy a new LPG or electric Porter for ₩20 million-plus out of pocket — or keep the old truck and absorb the fines. The 대폐차 (the regulated scrap-and-replace where the old plate retires as a new vehicle takes its place) is no longer a choice; it is the deadline. The Seoul Climate-Environment Headquarters has confirmed no new grade-5 subsidy cohort after 2026.⁴

"The 대폐차 is no longer a choice; it is the deadline."

— South Korea · Logistics owner-operator forum threads

Operators discussing this

These are real Korean owner-operators talking about the scrap-and-replace cliff in their own words. They are the reason this page exists.

«아니 넘버 3000주고 샀는데 협회 가입 안했다는 이유로 대폐차하면 넘버값도 안주고 걍 소멸된다고? 용달협회 이거 정체가 뭐임?»

"Wait — I paid ₩30M for this plate, and if I scrap-and-replace (대폐차) without belonging to the association, the plate value just disappears? What even is this Yongdal Association?"

협회 가입안하면 대폐차할때 넘버 소멸한다는데 · DCInside 화물차 갤러리 — sustained scrap-and-replace sub-cluster in the same gallery spanning >6 months (no=10619 Oct-2025, no=11219 Nov-2025, no=11511 Dec-2025, no=12241 / no=12499 Feb-2026 with 20 commenters, no=13322 Apr-2026 plate-loss-on-scrap).
«포터 50만 키로면 아직 멀쩡한 거임? 디젤은 폐차 시즌이 아쉬운데...»

"Is a Porter at 500,000 km still fine? Shame the scrap-season is coming for diesel..."

왜 화물차엔진은 수명이 훨씬 김? · DCInside 화물차 갤러리 — February 2026 thread with 20 commenters arguing why their high-mile diesel trucks "still work" even as the subsidy cliff closes; same sub-cluster (no=11511 Dec-2025, no=11219 Nov-2025) carries the same theme.
«5등급 판정을 받아서 조기 폐차를 하던지 아니면 매연저감장치를 달아야 한다고 하더군요... 관련부서에 오늘 전화해보니 올해 지원금은 다 동이 났고 내년 초에 다시 시행할때 연락주겠다고 하더군요.»

"I got rated grade-5 — they say I have to scrap early or fit a DPF. I called the department today and they said this year's subsidy budget is exhausted; they'll let me know early next year when it restarts."

노후 경유차소유자분들! 계속 타시나요? 폐차하시나요? · Clien cm_car — foundational Clien thread, 14 commenters; same board carried a multi-year arc on aged-diesel scrap-vs-pay across thread IDs 14365416 (2018), 17967029 (2023), 18011013 (Apr-2023 EV-truck operator interviews) — operator-side voice on the same scrap-or-pay pain across 6+ years.

02Who solves this today

The Korean toolkit an owner-operator reaches for when a grade-5 Porter or Bongo is on the final-year deadline: the operating association that processes the early-scrap subsidy, the government portal that takes the LPG-truck conversion and new-cargo-truck purchase applications, and the two largest used-truck marketplaces where the surrendered plate's downstream economics get worked out. Each homepage was checked live on the date of writing. Inclusion is not endorsement.

한국자동차환경협회 (AEA) — early-scrap and DPF retrofit operator

Self-marketed verbatim with the programme line-up "배출가스 저감사업" ("emission-reduction business"), "조기폐차 사업" ("early-scrap business") and "한국형 무공해차 전환100(K-EV100)" ("Korea-style 100% zero-emission-vehicle conversion"). The semi-public association that physically processes grade-5 early-scrap subsidy claims and certifies DPF (매연저감장치) retrofits — the body an owner-operator's paperwork actually flows through.

aea.or.kr

자동차 배출가스 종합정보 (mecar) — government vehicle-emission-grade portal

Self-marketed verbatim with the citizen-service menu "저공해조치 신청" ("low-emission-action application"), "LPG차 전환지원 신청" ("LPG-vehicle conversion-support application"), "화물차 신차구매 지원신청" ("cargo-truck new-purchase support application") and "운행제한 정보 서비스" ("driving-restriction info service"). The single online portal where a Korean grade-5 owner files the LPG-truck conversion and new-cargo-truck purchase subsidy, and checks 계절관리제 (seasonal-restriction) camera-fine status.

mecar.or.kr

엔카 (Encar) — used-vehicle marketplace, cargo-and-special-purpose vertical

Self-marketed verbatim as "O2O의 선두 주자로서 온라인과 오프라인을 통해 자동차 거래의 투명성을 확립하는 플랫폼" ("an O2O leader establishing transparency in vehicle transactions across online and offline channels"). Korea's leading used-vehicle marketplace; runs a dedicated 화물·특장 ("cargo / special-purpose") vertical that lists Porter and Bongo trim-by-trim, plus a 전기·친환경 ("electric / eco-friendly") vertical — the surrender plate's downstream market sits here.

encar.com

보배드림 (Bobaedream) — used-vehicle marketplace and 픽업·트럭 listings

Self-marketed verbatim as "국내 1위 자동차쇼핑몰" ("Korea's number-one automotive shopping mall") and "중고차 플랫폼" ("used-car platform"); the listings index labels a dedicated "픽업·트럭매장" ("pickup-and-truck showroom") category. Combines a cyber-showroom for used trucks with the country's most-trafficked automotive owner forum — where Porter and Bongo drivers trade real-world scrap-or-keep numbers in public.

bobaedream.co.kr

Listed providers publicly self-market in one of the wedges named above. Inclusion is not endorsement. Considered and dropped (each WebFetched on the date of writing): dpeco.kr (디피코, 1-ton EV maker) — DNS unreachable; signet-ev.com (SK Signet, EV charger) — DNS unreachable; wsi.co.kr (우진산전, EV bus/truck) — timeout; truckno1.co.kr — DNS unreachable; bbcar.co.kr — DNS unreachable; cargoman.co.kr — timeout; cardoc.co.kr — JS-only, no inspectable truck-vertical self-claim; heydealer.com — verified self-tagline "인증중고차, 내차팔기, 번호판시세" focuses on passenger 중고차, no commercial-truck self-claim on inspection; gsglobal.com — name collision (Spanish industrial-filter vendor, not the Korean conglomerate); evgo.kr — DNS unreachable; chargehere.co.kr — DNS unreachable; Hyundai/Kia own homepages are the trucks' manufacturer (a cause, not a solution-vendor), so not listed; CVINFO and Korea.kr are the cited press/government sources, not solution providers.

Help us improve this page

Report a mistake — or suggest a new solution

Spot a wrong number, dead source link, missing aspect, broken translation? Or know a vendor we should list as a solution? Tell us. The Director re-checks every report and either updates the page or writes back with a reason.

Listed companies — manage your entry. If you are one of the providers above and anything here is wrong, missing, or out of date — or you'd rather not be listed — write to us. Removal within 24 hours; corrections within 7 business days. We do not contact listed companies first; we publish what your own public marketing claims and respond when you reach out. Email contact@aikraft.com.