For nearly a month, a good part of the services offered by the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec will be paralyzed due to a digital shift.
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Until February 20, it will therefore be impossible to register a vehicle, renew a driver’s license and impossible to buy an ATV or snowmobile from an individual.
SAAQ services, which will be limited from January 26 to February 20, could cause a lot of hassle for businesses and drivers in Quebec. No payment can be made unless it goes through financial institutions, a situation that frustrates many.
“I announced my car. There was a lady who was supposed to come to buy it, but when I called the SAAQ, the lady told me to hurry up and come before 5 p.m., because you won’t be able to do it before February 20. explains Philippe, in his testimony on the program À Vos Affaires. “At first, I thought it was a joke, but it was serious, no transaction between individuals.”
Pierre-Luc had been planning his annual family vacation with his recreational vehicle for several weeks already, but his plans quickly fell through.
“When I wanted to deregister my vehicle on Friday morning, I realized that it was no longer possible to do so, neither by telephone, nor on the web, nor in branch,” he explains. “Despite the fact that I have a valid license plate, the SAAQ cannot help me, I am left to my own devices.”
The man who works himself in the IT environment says he is surprised at this way of proceeding.
“It’s not at all industry standards to completely shut down IT services, there should have been contingency measures,” he says.
The snowmobile season is short in Quebec and some snowmobilers will have to be patient, since their recreational vehicle of choice cannot be registered.
“My daughter bought herself a ski doo, but they had a surprise when they arrived at the SAAQ with the seller, it was not possible to register it”, explains a lady to our journalist Pierre-Olivier Zappa.
The SAAQ affirms, for its part, that the possibility of developing a parallel service during the IT change was analyzed, but that it was quickly abandoned.
Image provided by the SAAQ.
“We work with old computer systems, some even date from the computerization of the SAAQ which was done in 1980”, explains Gino Desrosiers, director of communications at the SAAQ. “Because of the age of these systems and the amount of data that needs to be converted to put into the new system, it was not possible to have a plan B.”
Mr. Desrosiers believes that this is a “mandatory passage”. He explains that this digital shift will allow users to have access to various online services, which will facilitate, among other things, the transfer of ownership for users.
Image provided by the SAAQ.
“You will be able to create a customer file, you will have access to all your information and carry out many transactions that you could not do before because of the obsolescence of our systems”, explains Mr. Desrosiers.
Despite the complications caused for many SAAQ customers, Mr. Desrosiers ensures that everyone will find their smiles again when they have access to online services on February 20.