Korean Used Car FCA Shipping: Free Carrier Explained (2026)

Korean used car FCA shipping (Free Carrier) is the multimodal origin Incoterm where the exporter delivers the car — already cleared for export — to a carrier or a place that you nominate, and risk passes to you at that named place in Korea. From that handover, you book and pay the main carriage and arrange the insurance. In one line: FCA is the modern, container-friendly replacement for FOB — the seller readies and export-clears the car and hands it to your carrier, and you control everything after.

That is exactly why the International Chamber of Commerce, which writes the rules, now recommends FCA over FOB for containerized cargo — and most Korean used cars headed inland to the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia travel by container. This guide explains what FCA covers, how it sits against FOB and EXW, the two FCA delivery variants that decide where risk passes, the important 2020 change that lets FCA work with a letter of credit, what an FCA price includes, and when to choose it. New to importing? Start with our step-by-step buying guide, or browse what is ready to ship in our live Hyundai inventory.

What Korean Used Car FCA Shipping Means

FCA stands for Free Carrier. It is an Incoterm — one of the standard international trade rules published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) — that defines who pays what, who does what, and where risk passes from seller to buyer. Under FCA, the seller delivers the goods, cleared for export, to a carrier or another party nominated by the buyer, at the seller's premises or another named place. The moment that handover happens, in Korea, risk passes to the buyer, and from there the buyer is responsible for the main carriage.

FCA is one of the seven Incoterms 2020 rules written for any mode or combination of modes of transport, which means it fits sea, rail, road or all three — and, crucially, it fits container shipping. On a Korean used car export, a genuine FCA shipment means the exporter sources and prepares the vehicle, de-registers it, files the export declaration, and hands the car to your carrier or forwarder at the agreed place — for example “FCA Busan container yard” or “FCA seller's yard, Incheon.” What the exporter does not do under FCA is book or pay the ocean freight, insure the voyage, or clear customs at your destination. Those are yours. According to the ICC's Incoterms 2020 rules, FCA is the term the ICC steers container shippers toward instead of FOB.

Korea is an ideal origin for FCA because its cars are factory left-hand drive and its container and forwarding infrastructure is mature. KAMA (Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association) reports Korea exported more than 400,000 used vehicles in 2025, and a large and growing share move in consolidated containers rather than on RoRo decks — precisely the shipments for which FCA, not FOB, is the technically correct handover term.

FCA vs FOB vs EXW: The Three Origin Terms

FCA, FOB and EXW are the three “origin” terms buyers meet most often — the ones where the buyer, not the seller, arranges the main international carriage. They differ in how much the seller does before handing over, and where risk passes. The table below lays them out side by side. For the full family of eleven, see our Incoterms guide for Korean car buyers.

Read the three columns as a staircase of seller effort. EXW is the least the seller can do: the car simply sits in the yard, and the buyer must even arrange Korean export clearance — something a foreign buyer usually cannot legally do, which makes EXW impractical for most exports. FCA adds the two things that matter: the seller export-clears the car and hands it to your carrier. FOB goes one step further and puts the car on board the vessel — but only makes sense for sea, and fits RoRo far better than containers. That is the whole map: FCA is EXW plus export clearance and delivery to your carrier, and it is the any-mode, container-ready version of FOB.

The Two Faces of FCA: Seller's Premises vs Named Place

FCA is really two delivery arrangements in one term, and the named place in your contract decides which applies. Getting this right — and writing the place precisely — is the single most important thing you can do to avoid an FCA dispute, because it fixes who does the loading and exactly where risk passes.

In Variant 1, FCA seller's premises, delivery happens when the seller loads the car onto the collecting vehicle or container that you (or your carrier) send to the seller's yard. The seller is responsible for that loading, and risk passes the moment the car is loaded. In Variant 2, FCA another named place — a container yard, a freight forwarder's warehouse or a port terminal — delivery happens when the seller places the car, on its own arriving transport and ready for unloading, at that place. Here the seller does not unload; your side does. The practical rule: name the place exactly, and know who does the lifting at the handover point.

Where Risk Passes Under FCA

Under FCA, risk passes from seller to buyer at the named place, when the car is handed to your carrier — in Korea, at origin, before the international voyage even begins. As the two variants show, the precise point is either when the car is loaded at the seller's premises, or when it arrives ready for unloading at another named place. Either way, the ocean leg and any inland carriage at your end are at your risk from that first handover.

Because risk lands on you right at box B, the practical lesson under FCA is to arrange your cargo insurance to attach from that handover point, so the car is covered across the sea leg — typically 15 to 40 days between Busan and a port such as Jebel Ali or Mombasa — and any rail or road onward journey. This is the flip side of controlling your own transport: under a term like CIP the seller must insure for you, but under FCA the insurance is yours to buy. Skipping it is the most common and most expensive FCA mistake.

The Incoterms 2020 Change: On-Board B/L for Letters of Credit

Here is the single most useful thing the ICC did for FCA in the 2020 edition, and the reason FCA finally works smoothly for buyers paying by letter of credit. A letter of credit almost always demands an on-board bill of lading — documentary proof the goods were actually loaded on the vessel. But under classic FCA the seller delivers to the carrier before loading, so the seller could not normally get an on-board B/L, which made FCA awkward for bank-financed trade.

Incoterms 2020 added an optional provision: under FCA, the buyer and seller can agree that the buyer will instruct its carrier to issue an on-board bill of lading to the seller once the goods are loaded. That lets an FCA seller obtain and present the on-board bill of lading its bank and the letter of credit require — while everyone still enjoys the accurate, container-friendly risk transfer of FCA. For a Korean used car bought on L/C terms, this means you no longer have to fall back on FOB just to satisfy the bank.

What an FCA Price Includes and Excludes

An FCA quotation is close to the bare, ex-Korea value of the car plus Korean export handling — because you are buying only up to the handover, and taking the transport into your own hands. Here is what a proper Korean used car FCA shipping price should and should not contain.

Included in a genuine FCA price

• The vehicle at its agreed condition, plus export preparation and de-registration in Korea.
• Korean export customs clearance and the export declaration.
• Delivery to the carrier or place you name — including loading if delivery is at the seller's premises (Variant 1).
• Handover documents proving delivery to your nominated carrier.

Excluded under FCA (the buyer pays)

• The main international carriage — you book and pay the ocean freight, on a prepaid or collect basis you choose.
• Cargo insurance — you arrange it, attaching from the named place.
• Import duty, VAT and customs clearance at destination, as broken down in our customs valuation guide.
• Destination terminal handling and any cargo tracking note or pre-shipment inspection your country requires.
• Local registration, plates and roadworthiness re-testing.

How an FCA Shipment Flows, Step by Step

Under FCA the exporter carries the car only up to the handover, then your side takes over the transport. The sequence looks like this, with the pivotal moment at Step 3, where risk and control both pass to you.

Notice that Step 3 is where FCA earns its identity: the exporter's job ends at the handover to your carrier, so from Step 4 onward the sailing schedule, the freight rate, the insurance and the tracking are all in your hands. That is the opposite of a term like DAP, where the seller carries the car all the way to your city. The full journey from Korea to your gate is mapped in our shipping logistics guide, and the origin-side paperwork in our export process guide.

What FCA Costs: FOB → FCA → Landed by Destination

An FCA price is essentially the ex-Korea value of the car plus export handling — a touch below a FOB price, since it stops at the carrier handover rather than at loading on board. The chart below shows how a roughly $10,000 Korean used SUV moves from FCA to a full landed cost once you add your freight, insurance and destination duty. Figures are illustrative 2026 estimates based on SH GLOBAL shipment records and published duty rates; your exact number depends on the car's customs value, engine size, route and current national tariff.

Two lessons hide in this chart. First, FCA's headline attraction is that the freight line — here about $1,400 — is yours to negotiate. A dealer moving regular volume through a favoured forwarder or a shared container can often beat the freight an exporter would fold into a CIF quote, so the true all-in cost lands lower. Second, the insurance premium is small — only about 1 to 2 percent of value — so there is never a good reason to skip it just because FCA makes it your job. Compare this control against a seller-arranged term like CIP, where carriage and all-risks cover come bundled, and choose based on whether you have your own freight setup.

When FCA Makes Sense, and When It Doesn't

FCA is the right term when you want to control the shipping — the carrier, the sailing, the container loading — while letting the Korean exporter do the two things only it can do easily: prepare and export-clear the car. Match it to your profile.

For dealers, import businesses and repeat buyers who ship steady volume — especially those consolidating several cars into one 40-foot container — Korean used car FCA shipping is often the best value on the board: the exporter export-clears each car and hands it to your forwarder, and you buy the freight at your own rates and load the box your way. Occasional or first-time buyers usually prefer the exporter to arrange the sea leg, in which case CFR or CIF is simpler, and buyers reaching inland Central Asia or interior Africa who want carriage and insurance bundled lean to CIP. If you are still shipping a single car on RoRo and are comfortable with the ship's-rail rule, plain FOB remains fine — but for a container, FCA is the more accurate choice.

Available for FCA, FOB, CFR, CIF, CIP, DAP or DDP terms depending on your country and forwarder. Explore Hyundai inventory.

How SH GLOBAL Handles FCA

SH GLOBAL Co., Ltd. quotes FCA alongside FOB, CFR, CIF, CIP and, where it is legally available, DAP and DDP, so buyers can pick the term that matches how much of the shipping they want to control. For FCA specifically, our approach:

• Precise named place, in writing. Every FCA contract states the exact handover point — our yard, a specific container yard, or your forwarder's terminal — and who loads, so there is never a dispute over where risk passed.
• Full Korean export clearance. We de-register the car and file the export declaration, so what we hand your carrier is a vehicle already legally cleared to leave Korea — the core difference from EXW.
• Carrier hand-off support. We coordinate cleanly with your nominated freight forwarder or carrier, and can recommend trusted Korean forwarders if you do not yet have one.
• On-board B/L for letters of credit. Where you pay by L/C, we build the Incoterms 2020 on-board bill of lading instruction into the contract so the document your bank needs is available.
• Container consolidation. For dealers combining several cars, we prepare and export-clear each unit for the same box, so your FCA handover matches your container loading plan.

Paired with direct auction sourcing at FOB prices 10–15% below typical dealer markups and multilingual support in Arabic, English and Korean, that is how SH GLOBAL lets you keep control of the transport while we handle everything on the Korean side of the handover.

Conclusion: The Container-Ready Origin Term

Korean used car FCA shipping is the origin Incoterm where the exporter delivers the car, cleared for export, to a carrier or place you nominate, and risk passes to you at that named place in Korea — while you arrange and pay the main carriage and insurance. It is EXW plus export clearance and delivery to your carrier, and it is the modern, container-friendly replacement for FOB that the ICC now recommends for containerized cargo. Remember the essentials: name the place precisely so both sides know who loads and where risk passes; buy your own cargo insurance to attach from that handover; and if you pay by letter of credit, write in the 2020 on-board B/L instruction. For dealers and repeat buyers who control their own freight, FCA is the sharpest-value term on the board.

Want to see FCA, FOB, CFR, CIF and CIP quoted side by side for your exact car, country and forwarder — with the named place, freight, insurance and duty spelled out? Request a free quotation from SH GLOBAL and we will lay out the true cost so you can choose the right term for your shipment.