Quebec motorists had a nice surprise at the start of the year. In fact, holders of a Québec driver’s license will pay less to renew their license.
To discuss this, Antoine Joubert and Germain Goyer received Mario Vaillancourt, spokesperson for the SAAQ, on the program The Car Guide, on OLD radio.
For 2022 and 2023, Quebec motorists will only pay $24 to renew their license, which corresponds to the basic fee only. “The insurance contribution payment holiday for the driver’s license is possible given that the investment income was higher than what had been anticipated by the actuaries in recent years,” explains Mr. Vaillancourt. The improvement in the road safety record in 2020 is another factor that allowed the SAAQ to offer this little gift to Quebec drivers.
The insurance contributions that are usually included in the cost of renewing a driver’s license are used to compensate people who are involved in a road accident. “It takes a capitalization rate that is at least 100% […] but we were beyond 120% and that is why the payment holiday was granted, ”explains Mario Vaillancourt, stressing however that drivers with demerit points on their file will have to pay more.
Personalized plates are popular
In July 2018, the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) offered a new service to local motorists, namely the ability to order a personalized license plate. This service, which was already offered in most other provinces and states in North America, has been a great success since its implementation.
“Motorists who wanted to have a personalized license plate were very happy to see this program happen. We have reached more than 54,000 plates requested,” said Mr. Vaillancourt.
Young people remain overrepresented in accidents
The complete road report for the year 2021 has not yet been finalized. On the other hand, the preliminary assessment covering the period from January to October reports a similar number of deaths between 2020 and 2021. There were respectively 287 and 281. Over a five-year horizon, a decrease is observed.
In his analysis of the data, Mr. Vaillancourt highlights the overrepresentation of young drivers in road accidents. “For a decade, we have noticed an improvement in the road safety record among young people. However, they remain overrepresented in accidents resulting in bodily injury. Drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 are involved in 18% of accidents resulting in bodily injury, even though they represent only 8% of license holders”, specifies the SAAQ spokesperson.
News of the week
During this program, there was also talk of the extension and modification of the Drive green program as well as the new engine at Stellantis.
Road tests
The two animators gave their impressions of the Genesis GV80 2022 and Audi S3 2022 recently tested.
The Car Guideit’s every Saturday at 10 a.m. on QUB radio, repeating on Sunday at 6 p.m.
