At the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), 150 additional employees will be assigned gradually, starting Monday, in branches that are experiencing high traffic due to failures in the transition of services to the SAAQclic online portal.
“Depending on the number of visitors, the opening hours will be brought forward in the morning and extended at the end of the day and services will be offered by appointment on weekends,” said a press release issued early Sunday morning.
It will be possible, as of Monday, for people who have to go to the queues to consult beforehand the daily reception capacity of each service center on the SAAQ website.
“Self-service digital kiosks will be added in branches”.
On Friday, Prime Minister François Legault denounced the situation which he described as “unacceptable” at the SAAQ and demanded corrective measures.
Launched on February 20, the SAAQ’s digital platform should allow customers to carry out most transactions online.
The objective was to be more efficient, in particular to facilitate the renewal of the driving license, the payment of the registration or the making of an appointment for a driving test, among others.
New measures have therefore been taken to facilitate the creation of an SAAQclic account during online registration. In about a week, starting March 13, it will be possible to obtain your notice of assessment number by telephone rather than by mail.
The authentication process will also be simplified in certain SAAQ branches, using two pieces of identification instead of four, namely the health insurance card and the driver’s licence.
Measures to help traders
Car dealerships, which are also affected by computer problems at the SAAQ, should also find it easier to reach someone on the phone since 15 additional employees will answer calls to the SAAQ’s support telephone line.
A major update to the SAAQclic Merchants portal was announced at the end of the week and an e-mail box will be dedicated to reporting difficulties encountered by merchants.
According to data provided by the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec, it processes more than 25 million transactions annually.
“The slowdown in activities during the transition period to SAAQclic caused the displacement of 430,000 transactions,” reads the press release.
Since the launch of the new SAAQclic platform on February 20, 103,000 Quebecers have successfully used it among the 335,000 customers served by the SAAQ.