How SAAQ Compensation Works

Since 1978 Quebec has compensated bodily injury from road accidents through a public scheme funded by driver and vehicle contributions. You claim from the SAAQ whether you caused the accident, someone else did, or nobody is identifiable — a hit-and-run is still covered.

The counterpart is that you generally cannot sue anyone for that bodily injury, no matter how egregious the other driver's conduct. **Property damage** is different: that remains with private insurers and is handled under the direct compensation agreement between them.

**Income replacement** where the injury prevents you working, calculated on your gross income up to an insurable maximum and paid net. Students, unemployed people and those without conventional income are covered under specific rules — a common misconception is that no job means no benefit.

Also covered: medical and paramedical care, medication, travel to treatment, rehabilitation, home and vehicle adaptation, attendant care, and an indemnity for **non-pecuniary damage** based on the degree of permanent impairment. Death benefits exist for family members.

Permanent impairment is assessed against a regulated schedule, and because there is no tort claim available, that assessment largely determines lifetime compensation for a serious injury. Every affected function should be assessed — including cognitive and psychological consequences, which are frequently under-assessed.

For brain injury or where behaviour, memory or concentration changed, insist on neuropsychological assessment. In catastrophic files the decisions made in the first months shape decades of entitlement, which is why representation is worth it there even though many routine claims proceed without.

First the SAAQ's own **review**, then the **Tribunal administratif du Québec** (Social Affairs Division). The TAQ hears the matter with evidence and can substitute its own decision. Its decisions are generally final, with judicial review in the Cour supérieure on limited grounds.

What changes outcomes is medical evidence addressing the precise point in dispute, not volume of paperwork. Conciliation is available in many TAQ files and resolves a substantial share of them far faster than a hearing.

If you are a Quebec resident injured in an accident outside Quebec, the SAAQ may still compensate you — and depending on where it happened, you may additionally have rights against the at-fault party under that jurisdiction's law. Ontario, for example, is only partially no-fault and permits a tort claim.

This is the one scenario where a Quebec accident victim may have both a benefits claim and a lawsuit. It is also easy to miss a foreign limitation period while focused on the SAAQ file, so get advice early.