In Quebec there is nobody to sue. Since 1978 the SAAQ has paid for road injuries regardless of who caused the crash, and the right to sue for bodily injury went with it.
So the whole claim is the decision. Two numbers hold it up. Three years to file your claim. Sixty days to contest a decision you disagree with, and sixty more after that to take it further.
What does the SAAQ pay in 2026?
These are the SAAQ's own figures, from its compensation table for accidents happening between 1 January and 31 December 2026. Most amounts are indexed each year.
- Income replacement. 90 per cent of your net income, calculated on gross income of up to $102,500 a year, paid every two weeks and not taxable.
- Permanent impairment. A lump sum of up to $309,443, set by the severity of the injury.
- Injury. A separate lump sum of up to $1,769.
- Home care. Up to $1,104 a week, or $1,745 a week where your condition requires continuous care.
- Students. $6,612 for an elementary school year lost, $12,135 for a secondary year, and $12,135 per post-secondary term to a maximum of $24,268 a year.
- Treatment. Up to $65 per prescribed physiotherapy treatment, $47 for chiropractic, $64 for acupuncture and $115 an hour for psychological treatment.
- Getting there. Public transit reimbursed in full, or $0.645 a kilometre where your condition or the route makes a private vehicle necessary, otherwise $0.17. Meals up to $14.95, $20.60 and $31.10.
- Time off for an SAAQ examination. Up to $186 a day in lost wages.
There is one entry worth knowing about before you need it. Where you get a second opinion from a health professional and it leads to your application being allowed, the SAAQ reimburses up to $1,862 for that assessment, and up to $5,586 where more than one professional was involved.
What the income replacement actually comes to
The SAAQ publishes its own worked examples, for a person with no spouse or dependants.
| Gross annual income | Net annual income | Paid every two weeks |
|---|---|---|
| $33,580, the minimum | $27,343 | $944 |
| $70,000 | $50,723 | $1,751 |
| $102,500, the ceiling | $70,785 | $2,444 |
Earn more than $102,500 and the difference is simply not covered. There is no lawsuit waiting to make it up, which is the trade Quebec made in 1978.
Two other rules shape the payments over time. Where a serious injury or impairment qualifies you for it, your indemnity is calculated from the first anniversary of the crash on income no lower than the average earnings of Québec workers, which is $62,281 for 2026. And the indemnity steps down with age: 25 per cent less at 65, half at 66, three quarters at 67, then recalculated at 68 and paid until death.
If someone dies
A surviving spouse receives the victim's gross income multiplied by five, with a floor of $172,914 and a ceiling of $512,500. Each dependant receives a lump sum set by their age, from $77,219 for a child under one to $41,914 at sixteen or older, with an extra $36,400 where a dependant was disabled. Where there is no spouse or dependants, $70,730 goes to the parents or to the succession. Funeral expenses are covered by an $8,727 payment to the succession.
Three years to claim
You have a maximum of three years from the date of the accident, the onset of the injury or the death to file a claim with the SAAQ. Injuries that surface slowly are the reason that second starting point exists, and it is worth claiming as soon as you know rather than testing it.
The two sixty-day clocks
If a decision goes against you, the route has two steps and both are short.
- Ask the SAAQ to review it, within 60 days of being notified. The application for review goes to the SAAQ itself, in writing. A late one has to explain the delay, and there is no guarantee it will be accepted.
- Contest the review decision at the Tribunal administratif du Québec, within 60 days of being notified of it. Section 83.49 of the Automobile Insurance Act sets that out, with one exception: a decision granting you the maximum indemnity, or the full reimbursement of what you are owed, cannot be contested.
Both clocks run from notification, meaning the day the decision reaches you rather than the date printed on it. Write that date on the envelope, because it is yours to prove.
What those decisions are made from
Look at the list of what the SAAQ pays and you can see what a file has to show. Treatment has to be prescribed. Home care has to be justified by your condition. Care expenses, travel and lost wages need receipts. Permanent impairment is assessed against a scale once your injuries have settled.
None of that is decided by how you felt on the worst day. It is decided by what was recorded, by whom, and when.
What should you write down, starting today?
- Every treatment, with the prescription behind it. Date, professional, what was done, and what they noted.
- What you cannot do at work, task by task, with what was tried instead.
- The help you now need at home, and who is giving it. Home care and care expenses turn on exactly this.
- Every kilometre, meal and receipt for getting to treatment. These are reimbursable and easy to lose.
- The date each SAAQ letter arrived. Both sixty-day clocks start there.
What to read next
Recovering after a car accident in Quebec covers the whole route, and the dates that run alongside a claim are on our Quebec SAAQ claim deadlines page. En français: se rétablir après un accident de voiture au Québec et les délais de réclamation à la SAAQ. If you were hurt at work rather than on the road, that is a CNESST claim: how a workplace claim works differs by province. Anywhere else in Canada, start with the guides by province and territory.
Every figure here comes from a named source.
Last verified: September 2026.
Verified against: the SAAQ's 2026 Compensation Table and 2026 Death Benefits Table, for accidents occurring between 1 January and 31 December 2026; the SAAQ's page on income replacement following a traffic accident; and section 83.49 of the Automobile Insurance Act.
These amounts are indexed every year. If you find something out of date on this page, write to Recovery@hurtsquare.ca and we will correct it publicly.
This is general information for people in Quebec. It is not legal or medical advice. What you are entitled to depends on the facts of your claim, and a decision you disagree with is worth advice before the sixty days run out.
