Thousands of drivers remained stalled, standing outside SAAQ service centres in lengthy lineups, as backlogs and glitches continue to plague the Quebec automobile insurance board.
On Wednesday long lineups were seen snaking the West Island service centres in Dorval and Pointe-Claire.
Drivers on a regular basis have been seen queuing-up two hours before the centres open.
Many have begun bringing lawn chairs and laptops to entertain themselves while they wait.
“I’ve been coming every day and yesterday the line was the length of the building,” Dennis Metcalfe said.
Metcalfe said he is forced to wait in line because the nearest date he can get for an appointment is in August. His renewed licence photo is due a week from now.
“It is unbelievably ridiculous,” Metcalfe said.
The Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) has been dealing with lengthy lineups at many of its service centres since its so-called digital transformation.
Touted as one of the biggest digital conversions in North America, it’s been four months since the new Saaqclic online portal was introduced, yet glitches and customer backlogs continue to cause serious issues.
In an email to Global News, the SAAQ said the months of May and June are typically very busy periods due to the number of customers who change vehicles in the summer season.
The end of the month is also a busier period in all the SAAQ’s points of service.
“This reality is not related to the deployment of SAAQclic because many customers would have had the possibility of carrying out their transactions online.”