For almost a month, most of the services offered by the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec will be paralyzed due to a digital transformation.
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Until February 20, it is therefore impossible To a vehicle, renew a driver’s license and 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 trouble for Quebec businesses and drivers. 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 said to hurry up and come before 5pm because you can’t do it before February 20th. explains Philippe, in his statement on the program À Vos Affaires. “At first I thought it was a hoax but it was serious, not a transaction between individuals.”
Pierre-Luc had been planning his annual family vacation in his mobile home for a few weeks, but his plans quickly fell through.
“When I wanted to deregister my vehicle on Friday morning, I had to realize that this was no longer possible, neither by telephone, nor on the Internet, nor in the branch,” he says. “Even though I have a valid registration number, the SAAQ cannot help me, I’m on my own.”
The man, who works in the IT field himself, says he is surprised by this approach.
“It is by no means an industry standard to completely shut down IT services, there should have been emergency measures,” he says.
The snowmobile season in Quebec is short and some snowmobilers have to wait because their favorite recreational vehicle is not allowed to enter.
“My daughter bought a Skidoo, but when she arrived at the SAAQ with the seller, she was surprised, it was not possible To it,” explains a lady to our journalist Pierre-Olivier Zappa.
For its part, SAAQ asserts that the possibility of developing a parallel service during the IT changeover was examined, but quickly abandoned.
Image provided by the SAAQ.
“We work with old computer systems, some even from the 1980’s computerization of the SAAQ,” explains Gino Desrosiers, SAAQ communications director. “Due to the age of these systems and the amount of data that needs to be converted to bring it into the new system, it wasn’t possible to have a plan B.”
Mr. Desrosiers believes that this is a “mandatory passage”. He explains that this digital transformation will allow users to access various online services, which will, among other things, facilitate 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 you will be able to carry out many transactions that you were previously unable to carry out due to the obsolescence of our systems,” explains Mr. Desrosiers.
Despite the complications caused for many SAAQ customers, Mr. Desrosiers ensures that everyone will find their smile back when accessing online services on February 20th.