CAA-Quebec
CAA-Quebec Foundation (CAA-Québec in French) is the affiliated club of the Canadian Automobile Association (or CAA) within the province of Quebec, Canada. It is a non-profit organization with its head offices located in Quebec City. CAA Quebec provides roadside assistance for the broken down cars of members across its territory
History
CAA Quebec was originally founded by Andrew J. Dawes as the Automobile Club of Canada in 1904. Its first meeting was held on 28 July 1904 at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal, Canada. On 9 August 1912, Frank Carrel founded the Quebec City section, known as the Quebec Automobile Club. Advocacy started from the beginning: members of the Quebec Automobile Club were already lobbying the government for better infrastructure to sustain their new cars. In 1922, the Quebec Automobile Clubs started offering roadside assistance to its members, and the following year the Montreal club started the same service. In 1950, the Automobile Club of Canada's main demand was a road crossing the island of Montreal. This continuing demand paid off, but only at the end of the decade, with the building of the boulevard Métropolitain. The two clubs of the province began their affiliation with the American Automobile Association (AAA) respectively in 1940 for the Quebec City club and in 1953 for the Montreal club. This marked the beginning of Trip Tiks (customized planned routes) for members of the Quebec clubs. It is only in 1984 that the two clubs merged into one entity: the Automobile and Touring club of Quebec, later renamed CAA Quebec. In 2004, it celebrated its 100th year of existence.
Locations
CAA Quebec has branches in most major Quebec cities, including Chicoutimi, Gatineau, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivieres, Quebec City, Montreal and Laval. These locations offer services including travel services and membership services (Trip Tiks, Tour Books, etc.)
Roadside assistance
All service calls are received at the Montreal Contact Centre where call takers enter the information regarding the breakdown into a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) software. Calls are then sent either to the Montreal dispatch centre (it covers the island of Montreal, Laval, the north shore and the south shore) or to the Quebec City dispatch centre (it covers everywhere Montreal dispatch does not). Services are either done by a CAA Quebec float truck or by an affiliated station.
Affiliations
- Federation Internationale de l'Automobile
- American Automobile Association
- Canadian Automobile Association