SAAQ Accident Claims in Québec: The No-Fault Scheme and the Bar on Suing for Bodily Injury

Québec runs a pure no-fault automobile insurance scheme administered by the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), and for a covered accident in Québec the Loi sur l'assurance automobile bars suing for the bodily injury the SAAQ compensates, with compensation coming through the SAAQ's own indemnities.

Information last verified on 2026-10-26. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

This article addresses Québec's no-fault automobile accident indemnity scheme under the Loi sur l'assurance automobile, CQLR c A-25. It does not address any other province's insurance model; for a side-by-side comparison of every Canadian province and territory, see Car Accident Claims and Auto Insurance Across Canada. Quoted French statutory text is the official wording; the English rendering that follows each quote is an unofficial translation for the reader's convenience, not an official version of the law.

No-Fault, and No Lawsuit for Bodily Injury

Québec's scheme starts from a single principle: compensation for a car accident does not depend on who caused it.

«Les indemnités accordées par la Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec en vertu du présent titre le sont sans égard à la responsabilité de quiconque.» (Loi sur l'assurance automobile, art. 5)

Unofficial rendering: indemnities granted by the SAAQ under this title are granted without regard to anyone's liability.

The scheme's other half is what sets it apart from the tort-based provinces covered on this site, which let an injured person sue subject to a threshold, a cap or a deductible: it is not just no-fault, it also replaces the lawsuit for the bodily injury it compensates, and there is no carve-out for a severe injury.

«Les indemnités prévues au présent titre tiennent lieu de tous les droits et recours en raison d'un préjudice corporel et nulle action à ce sujet n'est reçue devant un tribunal.» (Loi sur l'assurance automobile, art. 83.57)

Unofficial rendering: the indemnities provided under this title stand in place of all rights and remedies for bodily injury, and no court will receive an action on that subject.

No severity-based exception like Ontario's threshold appears in this provision. A Québec resident injured in a covered car accident in Québec cannot sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering, medical costs, or lost income, regardless of how severe the injury is. Compensation for that bodily injury comes from the SAAQ's own indemnities, including an indemnity for non-pecuniary loss (see below).

The bar has a territorial limit. For an accident outside Québec, article 83.59 lets the person entitled to an SAAQ indemnity keep a lawsuit for the amount above it:

«La personne qui a droit à une indemnité prévue au présent titre à la suite d'un accident survenu hors du Québec peut bénéficier de celle-ci tout en conservant son recours pour l'excédent en vertu de la loi du lieu de l'accident.» (Loi sur l'assurance automobile, art. 83.59)

Unofficial rendering: a person entitled to an indemnity under this title following an accident that occurred outside Québec may receive it while keeping their remedy for the excess under the law of the place of the accident. Under article 83.60, the SAAQ is also subrogated to that person's rights and can recover what it pays from a liable non-resident. This is a rule about where the accident happened, not a severity exception: inside Québec, the bar applies however severe the injury, for every accident the scheme covers.

Accidents Excluded From the Scheme (Article 10)

The bar on suing goes with the right to an SAAQ indemnity. Article 10 lists cases where no one is entitled to an indemnity under the scheme («nul n'a droit d'être indemnisé»):

• injury caused, when the automobile is not moving on a public highway, by a device capable of independent operation that is incorporated into the automobile, or by the use of that device;
• an accident off a public highway in which injury is caused by a farm tractor, a farm trailer, an equipment vehicle or an equipment trailer;
• injury caused by a snowmobile or a vehicle intended for use off public highways;
• an accident caused by a competition, show, race, practice run, demonstration or exhibition of automobiles on a track or ground closed to all other automobile traffic, or inside a building;
• injury caused by a motorized bicycle, a motorized mobility aid or a motorized personal transporter.

These vehicles and devices are defined by regulation. In each case the Act provides that, subject to articles 108 to 114, «la responsabilité est déterminée suivant les règles du droit commun» (liability is determined under the general law): the SAAQ pays no indemnity, and who must compensate the injury is a question for the ordinary rules of civil liability.

There is an important qualification. For the farm tractor or equipment vehicle off a public highway, the snowmobile or off-road vehicle, and the motorized bicycle, motorized mobility aid or motorized personal transporter, the victim is entitled to an SAAQ indemnity if a moving automobile other than those vehicles is involved in the accident (art. 10, para. 3). If you are unsure how your accident is treated, contact the SAAQ before assuming it is excluded. For the traffic rules that apply to e-scooters, see E-Scooter Laws in Québec.

What the Bar Does Not Touch

The bar on lawsuits is specific to court actions for bodily injury against another party in relation to the accident. It leaves two things untouched.

First, a private insurance policy. Article 83.58 is direct about this:

«Rien dans la présente section ne limite le droit d'une personne de réclamer une indemnité en vertu d'un régime privé d'assurance, sans égard à la responsabilité de quiconque.» (Loi sur l'assurance automobile, art. 83.58)

Unofficial rendering: nothing in this section limits a person's right to claim an indemnity under a private insurance plan, regardless of anyone's liability. A private disability policy, for example, is not affected by the SAAQ bar.

Second, a narrow route exists for a non-resident injured in a Québec accident. Article 9 gives a non-resident victim indemnity only in proportion to their own non-fault share, and preserves a right to go to court specifically to dispute the SAAQ's own fault determination against them, within 180 days of that decision. This is not a general right to sue the other driver; it is a dispute over how the SAAQ itself apportioned fault for calculating a non-resident's reduced indemnity.

Coordination-of-benefits provisions with Québec's workplace injury compensation board (CNESST) and crime-victims compensation also appear in the Act, but these are administrative offset rules between government schemes, not exceptions that allow a lawsuit against another driver.

Income Replacement: 90% of Net Income, Capped

The income replacement indemnity is set at a fixed percentage of net income.

«L'indemnité de remplacement du revenu d'une victime visée au présent chapitre est égale à 90% de son revenu net calculé sur une base annuelle.» (Loi sur l'assurance automobile, art. 51)

Unofficial rendering: the income replacement indemnity for a victim covered by this chapter equals 90% of their net income, calculated on an annual basis. Net income here means gross annual employment income up to the maximum annual insurable amount, minus amounts equal to income tax and to Employment Insurance, Québec Parental Insurance Plan and Québec Pension Plan (RRQ) contributions (art. 52).

That maximum insurable amount is confirmed directly on the SAAQ's own consumer page:

«Elle représente 90 % du revenu annuel net, calculé sur la base d'un revenu brut annuel qui ne peut dépasser 102 500 $.» (SAAQ, "Remplacement du revenu après un accident de la route")

Unofficial rendering: it represents 90% of net annual income, calculated on the basis of gross annual income that cannot exceed $102,500. That ceiling is the maximum annual insurable amount. Article 54 of the Act set it at $38,000 for 1989 and recalculates it every year from Statistics Canada average weekly earnings data for Québec, applying each new figure from January 1; the SAAQ page states that the maximum indemnity amount «est indexé chaque année» (is indexed every year). For 2026, the maximum annual insurable amount is $102,500 under the SAAQ's 2026 compensation table, which covers accidents from January 1 to December 31, 2026. The figure changes every January 1, so check the one for the year of your accident.

Income replacement also does not start on day one. Article 83.20 provides that the indemnity is not due before the seventh day after the accident, and the SAAQ page states that no income replacement indemnity is paid for the first 7 days following the accident.

If a victim returns to a lower-paid job, the benefit is reduced by 75% of the net income earned from the new position, rather than dollar for dollar.

The indemnity also falls with age. Under article 40, it is reduced by 25% from the victim's 65th birthday, by 50% from the 66th and by 75% from the 67th. From the 68th birthday, the amount is set by a calculation method prescribed by regulation. Different rules apply to a victim aged 64 or over on the date of the accident (art. 40, para. 3) and to a victim aged 65 or over who held no job on that date, who receives no income replacement indemnity except, in some cases, for the first 180 days (arts. 41 and 42).

Incarceration for certain offences reduces the indemnity without removing the right to it. Article 83.30 requires the SAAQ to reduce the income replacement indemnity of a victim who is incarcerated or detained because of an offence under sections 320.13 to 320.16 of the Criminal Code or, if the offence was committed with an automobile, sections 220, 221 or 236. The annual reduction ranges from 75% for a victim with no dependants to 10% for a victim with four or more dependants, and it lasts until the end of the incarceration or detention. If the victim is found not guilty, the SAAQ repays the amount withheld, with interest.

The Indemnity for Non-Pecuniary Loss

Not being able to sue for pain and suffering does not mean that loss goes uncompensated. Article 73 makes it the SAAQ's job:

«Pour la perte de jouissance de la vie, les douleurs, les souffrances psychiques et les autres inconvénients subis en raison de blessures ou de séquelles d'ordre fonctionnel ou esthétique pouvant l'affecter temporairement ou en permanence à la suite d'un accident, une victime a droit, dans la mesure prévue par règlement, à une indemnité forfaitaire pour préjudice non pécuniaire, dont le montant ne peut excéder 175 000 $.» (Loi sur l'assurance automobile, art. 73)

Unofficial rendering: for loss of enjoyment of life, pain, mental suffering and other inconveniences from injuries or functional or aesthetic after-effects that may affect the victim temporarily or permanently after an accident, a victim is entitled, to the extent provided by regulation, to a lump-sum indemnity for non-pecuniary loss of no more than $175,000. That statutory $175,000 is revalorized every January 1 (art. 83.34). For accidents in 2026, the SAAQ's 2026 compensation table lists a maximum of $309,443 for the lump-sum indemnity for permanent after-effects and a maximum of $1,769 for the injury indemnity. The amount actually paid depends on the assessment set by regulation; these maximums are not a guaranteed amount.

The Three-Year Claim Deadline

Québec gives a longer window to claim than some other provinces on this site, and it is important not to confuse the two.

«Le droit à une indemnité visée au présent titre se prescrit par trois ans à compter de l'accident ou de la manifestation du préjudice et, dans le cas d'une indemnité de décès, à compter du décès.» (Loi sur l'assurance automobile, art. 11)

Unofficial rendering: the right to an indemnity under this title is extinguished three years from the accident or from when the injury manifests, or, for a death benefit, three years from the death. The SAAQ's own page confirms the same figure in consumer-facing terms: a maximum of three years from the date of the accident, the appearance of the injury, or the death to make a claim. The deadline is three years, not two as in some other provinces. The three years is not absolutely final either: under the second paragraph of article 11, the SAAQ may allow a claimant to act after the deadline if, for serious and legitimate reasons («pour des motifs sérieux et légitimes»), they could not act sooner. Do not count on that discretion; claim within three years.

To file, the SAAQ offers an online service. To use a paper form instead, you must first call the SAAQ to open a file and get a claim number, which you use to complete the documents (general information: 1-800-361-7620). The initial medical report is one of the documents to enclose with the claim.

Requesting a Review, and Appealing to the Tribunal administratif du Québec

A person who disagrees with an SAAQ decision has two further steps available, each on its own clock.

The first is an internal review, called a demande de révision:

«[...] une personne qui se croit lésée par une décision rendue par un fonctionnaire peut, dans les 60 jours de la notification de la décision, demander par écrit à la Société la révision de cette décision.» (Loi sur l'assurance automobile, art. 83.45)

Unofficial rendering: a person who believes they have been wronged by a decision made by an official may, within 60 days of being notified of the decision, ask the SAAQ in writing to review that decision. Article 83.46 lets the SAAQ accept a late review request on the same serious and legitimate reasons test. The SAAQ generally has 90 days to decide the review, though that period can be extended if a medical examination or additional documents are needed; if the SAAQ misses the 90 days, the claimant may go directly to the Tribunal.

The second step, if the review decision is still unsatisfactory, is an appeal to the Tribunal administratif du Québec:

«Une personne qui se croit lésée par une décision rendue par la Société ou par une décision rendue en révision peut, dans les 60 jours de sa notification, la contester devant le Tribunal administratif du Québec [...].» (Loi sur l'assurance automobile, art. 83.49)

Unofficial rendering: a person who believes they have been wronged by a decision of the SAAQ, or by a review decision, may contest it before the Tribunal administratif du Québec within 60 days of being notified of that decision. A decision granting the maximum indemnity or full expense reimbursement is not contestable, since there would be nothing further to award. Filing a review request or a Tribunal appeal does not pause payment of an indemnity that is already being paid.

Property Damage Is Handled Separately

The no-fault bodily-injury scheme described above does not cover property damage to a vehicle. Property damage runs through the private insurance system under the Convention d'indemnisation directe, a direct-compensation agreement among insurers. In general terms, a vehicle owner's property-damage claim goes to their own insurer where that agreement applies, rather than to another driver's insurer or to the SAAQ. If the owner is not satisfied with how their own insurer settled the claim under the agreement, article 116 preserves a remedy:

«Toutefois, le propriétaire peut, s'il n'est pas satisfait du règlement effectué suivant la convention, exercer ce recours contre l'assureur suivant les règles du droit commun dans la mesure où les articles 108 à 114 n'y dérogent pas.» (Loi sur l'assurance automobile, art. 116)

Unofficial rendering: however, an owner who is not satisfied with the settlement made under the agreement may bring that claim against the insurer under the general law, to the extent articles 108 to 114 do not derogate from it. In practice, that means the dispute is with your own insurer, not with the other driver. The detailed terms of the agreement itself were not reviewed for this article, so raise specific questions with your insurer or the Autorité des marchés financiers.

Disclaimer: This article provides general information about Québec's no-fault automobile accident indemnity scheme under the Loi sur l'assurance automobile, CQLR c A-25, current as of October 2026. It is not legal advice. Quoted French statutory text is followed by an unofficial English rendering for convenience only; the French text is the official wording. The maximum insurable income figure is indexed every year and the detailed terms of the Convention d'indemnisation directe were not reviewed, so check both directly with the SAAQ or the Autorité des marchés financiers before relying on them. This article does not encourage the use of a paid claim intermediary; Québec's scheme is designed so that a claimant deals directly with the SAAQ. Consult a lawyer licensed in Québec for advice on your specific situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I sue the other driver after a car accident in Québec?

Not for bodily injury the scheme covers. Under article 83.57 of the Loi sur l'assurance automobile, SAAQ indemnities stand in place of all rights and remedies for bodily injury, with no exception for a severe injury, and the SAAQ itself compensates non-pecuniary loss. Article 10 does exclude some accidents from the scheme, for example those during a competition on a closed course, or injury caused by a snowmobile, an off-road vehicle, a motorized bicycle or a motorized personal transporter where no other moving automobile is involved. In those cases liability is determined under the general law.

Does the no-fault bar stop me from claiming on my own private insurance?

No. Article 83.58 preserves the right to claim under a private insurance policy, such as a disability policy, regardless of anyone's fault in the accident. The bar applies only to court actions against another party for bodily injury.

How much does SAAQ pay for lost income?

The income replacement indemnity is 90% of net income, calculated on a gross annual income that the SAAQ's own page confirms cannot exceed $102,500 for 2026. That ceiling is reset every January 1 under article 54 of the Act, so check the figure for the year of your accident. The indemnity is also reduced from the victim's 65th birthday (art. 40). No income replacement is paid for the first 7 days after the accident.

How long do I have to file an SAAQ claim?

Three years from the accident, from when the injury appears, or from the death, for a death benefit. This is longer than the two-year limitation period used in some other provinces, so do not assume a shorter deadline applies to a Québec claim. Under article 11, the SAAQ may allow a late claim if you could not act sooner for serious and legitimate reasons, but that is discretionary. You can file through the SAAQ's online service or, after calling to get a claim number, on a paper form.

What if I disagree with an SAAQ decision?

You can request an internal review within 60 days of being notified of the decision. If you disagree with the review decision, you can appeal to the Tribunal administratif du Québec within 60 days of being notified of that review decision. Filing a review or an appeal does not stop payment of an indemnity you are already receiving.

What about damage to my car, not my injuries?

Property damage is not part of the no-fault bodily-injury scheme. It is handled through private insurers under the Convention d'indemnisation directe, so a vehicle owner's property-damage claim generally goes to their own insurer rather than to the SAAQ. An owner unhappy with that settlement can sue their own insurer under the general law, under article 116.