The computer mess at the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) has prompted the Quebec government to put three measures in place to avoid customers having to wait long hours in service centres.
The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, announced in a press release on Wednesday that as of this Thursday, the period of validity of driving licenses whose expiry is scheduled between March 9 and June 1, 2023 will be extended. Consequently, the deadline for payment of amounts due will be extended for a maximum of 90 days from the driver’s license holder’s birthday.
In addition, Minister Guilbault announces that the validity period of temporary registration certificates issued between March 9 and April 8, 2023 will be increased from 10 to 60 days. Thus, people who buy their vehicle from a merchant will have more time to register their vehicle.
Finally, as of Thursday, the validity of foreign driver’s licenses will be maintained until August 29 in order to give their holders a reprieve from applying for a license in Quebec.
These three measures are in addition to those that came into effect last Monday with the aim of the SAAQ being able to better manage its customer service crisis.
Thus, depending on the number of visitors, the opening hours are brought forward in the morning and extended at the end of the day and services will be offered by appointment on weekends. In addition, some 150 additional employees were to be gradually assigned to SAAQ customer services starting last Monday. And self-service digital kiosks have been added in some branches.
It is also possible for people who have to go to the queues to consult beforehand the daily reception capacity of each service center on the SAAQ website.
The government indicates that as of next Monday, the authentication process will be simplified in seven branches of the SAAQ. Two pieces of identification will be required instead of four, namely the health insurance card and the driver’s license.
The SAAQ’s digital platform was to allow customers to carry out most transactions online. Since its launch on February 20, 103,000 Quebecers have successfully used it among the 335,000 customers served.