SAAQ adding staff, stepping up measures to deal with delays

Quebec's automobile insurance board will be rolling out a number of measures Monday to grapple with delays caused by the launch of its online portal SAAQclic.

Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault said in a tweet Sunday that new measures would be in place, including deploying more employees and sharing additional information on service centre schedules. 

"I asked that Quebecers no longer wait outside and that the service be of high quality everywhere," she said. 

The announcement comes days after Premier François Legault called the situation at the SAAQ "unacceptable" on Friday. 

Launched on Feb. 20, SAAQclic aimed for customers to carry out most transactions online, including renewing driving licences and paying for a driving exam. But the transition has created headaches for drivers and car dealers seeking to register for licences or deliver vehicles. 

Starting Monday, 150 additional employees will be assigned gradually to Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) branches that are experiencing high traffic. Fifteen more employees will answer calls to the SAAQ's support line.

Depending on crowd sizes at branches, SAAQ operating hours will extend its operating hours, the auto insurance board said in a news release Sunday. As well, services will be offered by appointment on weekends, it said.

As of Monday, people will be able to check the SAAQ website to see the daily reception capacity of each service centre before going to the queue. Self-service digital kiosks will be added in branches.

To support dealers, the SAAQ will create an inbox specifically for merchants to report difficulties encountered. 

"Reduced activities during the transition period to SAAQclic caused the postponement of 430,000 transactions," according to the insurance board news release.

According to data provided by the SAAQ, the auto insurance board processes more than 25 million transactions annually.