Quebec SAAQ Claim Deadlines
The dates that govern a SAAQ claim in Quebec. Free. No email required. For drivers, passengers, cyclists and people on foot.
Quebec works differently from every other province. There is one public insurer, the SAAQ, and there is no lawsuit. Whoever caused the crash, your claim goes to the same place.
The headline number is generous. Three years to claim. The numbers that actually catch people are the short ones that follow a decision landing in the post.
AT A GLANCE
| You have | To do this | Counting from |
|---|---|---|
| 3 years | File your claim for compensation with the SAAQ | The date of the accident |
| 60 days | Ask for a review of any decision you disagree with | The day you are notified of that decision |
| 60 days | Take a review decision to the Tribunal administratif du Quebec | The review decision |
| 7 days | The waiting period before income replacement begins | The start of your inability to work |
How long do you have to claim from the SAAQ?
Three years from the date of the accident. Where a person has died, the three years runs from the death rather than the crash.
Three years is the longest claim window in the country and it is the reason Quebec files go wrong in a particular way. Nobody feels any urgency, so nobody writes anything down, and the claim is eventually built two years later out of memory alone.
See a doctor immediately anyway. The initial medical report is what connects your injuries to the accident. The SAAQ reimburses a small amount toward the cost of that report on production of the receipt, so keep it.
Can you sue the driver who hit you in Quebec?
No. Compensation for bodily injury from a road accident in Quebec sits outside the ordinary civil courts. No action can be brought against the person responsible for the crash. A claim to the SAAQ is the only route available, for drivers and passengers alike, and whether or not you live in Quebec.
Two consequences follow from that. There is no other party to blame and no settlement to negotiate, so the quality of your own file is the only variable you control. And if you live in Quebec, you can claim from the SAAQ even for an accident that happened somewhere else.
How long do you have to contest a SAAQ decision?
Sixty days from the day you are notified. You file a demande de revision. The deadline can be extended in exceptional cases, but only if you can show you were genuinely unable to act in time, and that is an argument you would rather not have to make.
The SAAQ does not send one decision. It sends a series of them, on your eligibility, on your income replacement, on your diagnoses, on your treatments, and much later on any permanent impairment. Each one carries its own sixty days.
Write the arrival date on every letter. Sixty days runs from notification, not from the date printed on the page. If several decisions arrive close together, you can list the others on the same review form as long as they fall inside the same sixty day window.
What happens after the review decision?
The review office has ninety days to decide, and a different officer handles it from the one who made the original decision. If the outcome still does not work for you, you have a further sixty days to take it to the Tribunal administratif du Quebec.
When does income replacement start and how long does it last?
The indemnite de remplacement du revenu is calculated at ninety percent of net income up to a maximum insurable amount that is adjusted each year. It is paid every two weeks after a seven day waiting period.
It can run for two years based on your condition. After that the SAAQ continues paying only if you remain unable to hold any employment, which is a different and harder test than being unable to do your own job. Payments stop at age sixty-eight.
That two year mark is the one to prepare for. The decision that follows it is made on paper, from what your file shows about what you can and cannot do. Start recording the specific tasks you can no longer manage now, not in month twenty-three.
Last verified: July 2026
Checked against: the SAAQ demande de revision form, and the Quebec Automobile Insurance Act. Maximum insurable income is indexed annually, so we do not quote a figure here. Confirm yours with the SAAQ.
Deadlines change. If you find something on this page that is out of date, write to Recovery@hurtsquare.ca and we will correct it publicly.
Keeping the record these deadlines depend on
Quebec gives you three years and no opponent. What it does not give you is a second chance on a decision you let sit for sixty-one days.
Two things decide how an injury claim goes. What you wrote down and whether you did the right thing at the right time for where you live. The National Recovery Guide handles the first, the daily record of symptoms, appointments, calls and costs that a claim is eventually judged on. The Provincial Companion Guide handles the second, the deadlines on this page and the forms, boards and appeal routes behind them. People who have only one tend to end up with a careful record aimed at the wrong process, or the right dates and nothing to put in front of them.
Recovery First. Pressure Last.
See the Quebec MVA Companion Guide
The scene checklist for the first three days is at hurtsquare.ca/72. It is free and asks nothing of you.
This page is general information for people in Quebec. It is not legal or medical advice. Rules differ by province and change over time. Confirm anything specific to your situation with a lawyer, the SAAQ or the Tribunal administratif du Quebec.