Didn't get a notice to renew your Quebec driver's licence? You're not alone

If you rely on an annual reminder from Quebec's automobile insurance board to renew your licence, you may want to check your file.

CBC spoke with multiple drivers who say they didn't receive their payment notice by snail mail this year ahead of their birthday when a driver's licence expires annually in Quebec.

That left some people cruising around without a valid driver's licence and others scrambling to renew theirs with the Socit de l'assurance automobile du Qubec (SAAQ) just days before it expired.

Lisa Levy, 53, says she became suspicious back in September when she still hadn't received her notice. Her birthday is in October.

"I was checking my mailbox every day, looking for it, waiting for it I was like 'Gee, this is strange, usually they should give you at least 30 days to pay it,'" she said.

Both licence and registration renewal notices tellyou how much you owe that year in total fees. The number is subject to change annually.

By mid-October, Levy says she got the "bright idea" to check her SAAQclic online portal the online platform that launched last year which allows customers to do certain transactions online.

"Sure enough, there was a message in the inbox," she said.

But she didn't know to check there as she never received an email telling her there was activity in her account.

"What I didn't expect was that there wouldn't be an email saying, 'By the way, go and check your message centre,'" she said.

• Have a similar experience with theSAAQ? Contact assignmentmontreal@cbc.ca

Everyone, regardless of whether they receive a renewal notice in their SAAQclic account, should by default receive a physical one by mail, the SAAQ says.

An exception is a customer who has opted for electronic communication with the SAAQ, in which case a driver would receive notices exclusively through the portal, accompanied by an email alert.

Levy says it's possible she chose to receive notices from the SAAQ electronically when she created her account, but that doesn't explain why she didn't get the email alert. (Yes, she checked her junk folders.)

She says luckily, she was able to renew her licence just days before it expired.

"But if this had been my first driver's licence anniversary ever or if I had been a newcomer to Quebec, I wouldn't have known this so I was aggravated by that," she said.

The SAAQis encouragingpeople to check their junk folders for their email alert as well as ensure they entered the correct email address in their portal to make sure they can access their online notice.

'My biggest concern is consistency'

In an email to CBC, the SAAQconfirmed that a driver's online account is automatically linked to them, even before they access it for the first time.

That means you don't actually have to have "set up" your SAAQclic account for a notice to be waiting in there for you.

"But normally, the person would have already received their renewal notice by mail beforehand," SAAQ spokesperson Genevive Ctsaid in an email.

"In certain exceptional casesit cannot be excluded that mail may have been lost."

MasamichiTsukada, a 24-year-old living in Montreal's Griffintown neighbourhood, thought that might have happened to him back in December when, two weeks before his birthday, he still hadn't gotten his notice in the mail.

Having moved from Ontario to Quebec in 2022, it was his first time needing torenew his licence.

"I didn't know how to do it," he said. He tried accessing his SAAQclic account but didn't have the documents necessary for the authentication process.

The process requires several steps, which include providing your social insurance number, health card number and driver's licence as well as the notice of assessment number issued by Revenu Qubec in the last income tax return.

If you don't have that reference number handy, you have to wait up to 15 days for a confidential code to arrive in the mail or go get authenticatedin person at a SAAQservice centre.

Tsukada couldn't afford to wait, so he called the SAAQ hotline and worked with an agentwho helped him get into his SAAQclicaccount. He was able to renew his licence a week before it expired.

As a software developer,Tsukadasays this was a poor user experience.

"My biggest concern is consistency," he said.

"It'shard to fathom thatthe government isn't able to do something on a consistent basis for all of its citizens."

Noconfirmation of problems

Despite severalemails back and forth about the situation, the SAAQ refused to confirm whether or not it isaware of multiple people failing to receive their notices or email alerts.

"If a customer feels that they have not received a communication from the SAAQ that they should have received by mail, we invite them to contact us so that we can consult their file," said Ct.

When questioned if they were aware of the issues, both the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital Technologytold CBCthe SAAQ does not report to them and directedall questions to the Crown corporation.

CBC asked local and provincial policewhether they've noticed more driversthan usual being stopped for expired licences.

TheService de police de la Ville de Montral (SPVM) said it had actually seen a large drop in the number of people being stopped for expired licences last year compared to 2022, but that is likely related to Quebecextending the validity period of drivers' licences and payment deadlinesduring the height of the issues with SAAQclic.

For its part, the Sret du Qubec(SQ) said they don't have theavailable data to answer that question, but normally theSAAQwould alert them of a situation with their system.

"At this moment ... we haven'theard anything," said spokesperson Ann Mathieu.

The fine for driving without a valid Quebec licence ranges between $300 and $600, in addition to other fees. The vehicle canalso be seized and impounded for 30 days.

Customers can contact the SAAQ by phone at 1-800-361-7620, by emailor direct message on social media for any concerns.