1. The judgment of the first instance court, including the claims extended by this court, shall be modified as follows:

The defendant.

1. Basic facts

A. The Plaintiff is the owner of C Passenger Vehicles (benz C220 Blent EEC, hereinafter “Plaintiff-Motor Vehicle”).

B. Around 08:40 on January 3, 2019, the Plaintiff was faced with a traffic accident under which the Plaintiff, while driving the Plaintiff’s vehicle on the outer circular road located in Bupyeong-si, Seocheon-si, and attempted to alter the vehicle line in an unreasonable manner (hereinafter “Defendant’s vehicle”), by driving the Plaintiff’s vehicle on the rear part of the Plaintiff’s vehicle (hereinafter “instant traffic accident”).

C. The Defendant, as an insurer who entered into a comprehensive automobile insurance contract with respect to the Defendant vehicle, paid KRW 10,959,000 as insurance money to the Plaintiff in relation to the instant traffic accident (such as the Plaintiff’s repair cost, KRW 8,796,370, and KRW 2,172,770, etc.).

[Ground for Recognition: Facts without dispute, Gap evidence 1 through 5, entry of Eul evidence 1, purport of whole pleadings]

2. The gist of the Plaintiff’s assertion was that the Plaintiff suffered serious damage, such as the destruction of major structural parts due to the instant traffic accident, and the parts that could not be restored to its original state even after completion of technically feasible repairs remain. As such, the Defendant, the insurer of the Defendant’s vehicle, is liable to compensate the Plaintiff for damages incurred by the price decline of the Plaintiff’s vehicle.

3. Determination

A. (1) When an article is damaged due to a tort in the relevant legal doctrine, the amount of ordinary damages would be the cost of repair if it is possible to repair it, and when it is impossible to repair it, the exchange value would be reduced.

Where part of repair is not possible even after repair remains, the reduced value of exchange due to the impossibility of repair in addition to the repair cost falls under ordinary damages.

(see, e.g., Supreme Court Decision 2017Da213258, Jun. 12, 2018). However, in cases where a motor vehicle causes serious damage to the main structural part of the engine or body caused by an accident, barring any special circumstance, even if the motor vehicle is technically feasible repair.