VIN based insurance claim system

• US 10,482,541 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2018
• Issued: 11/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Audatex North America LLC
• Original Assignee: Audatex North America Incorporated (Solera Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Elkins, Tanya, Gorelov, Sergey, Joobbani, Daryoush
• Primary Examiner(s): Liu, I Jung
• Application Number:
  US15/937,659
• Publication Number:
  US 20180218457A1
• Time in Patent Office: 602 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

An insurance claim system that can display vehicle identification key information and vehicle option, package, engine, transmission, paint, production date information provided from multiple different sources. The system can perform a method that includes displaying at least one insurance claim with at least one vehicle description, a plurality of vehicle options, and a VIN field. A VIN is entered into the VIN field, which is decoded to determine vehicle information and vehicle option information. One or more vehicle options displayed by the client computer are selected with the vehicle option information, and the selected vehicle options are modified with supplemental vehicle options information provided by an OEM source. Modifying the vehicle options with the information provided by the OEM source improves the accuracy of the options information selected on the insurance claim page. Maintaining the additional options provided by the VIN decode allows an operator to select/de-select options added or removed after manufacture of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for providing vehicle information and vehicle options information for an insurance claim, comprising:

displaying at least one insurance vehicle identification page on a computer, the insurance vehicle identification page includes a plurality of vehicle information fields, a plurality of vehicle options fields, and a vehicle identification number field;

determining vehicle description information and vehicle identification number vehicle option information by decoding, via the computer, a vehicle identification number entered into the vehicle identification number field;

inserting, automatically via the computer, the vehicle description information into at least one of the insurance vehicle information fields and selecting a first number of vehicle options fields based on the vehicle identification number vehicle option information;

retrieving, via the computer, original equipment manufacturer vehicle option information from an original equipment manufacturer source,

comparing, via the computer using at least one linking page, the vehicle identification number vehicle option information with the original equipment manufacturer vehicle option information; and

,

changing, via the computer, the first number of selected vehicle options fields to a second number of selected vehicle options fields if the original equipment manufacturer vehicle option information is different than the vehicle identification number vehicle option information using the at least one linking page.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first number of selected vehicle options fields is changed to the second number of selected vehicle options fields by deselecting at least one of the vehicle options fields selected with the vehicle identification number vehicle option information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising deselecting one of the first number of selected vehicle options fields in response to a user input.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first number of selected vehicle options fields is changed to the second number of selected vehicle options fields by selecting at least one of the vehicle options fields that was not selected with the vehicle identification number vehicle option information and is added by the original equipment manufacturer vehicle option information.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a repair cost estimate utilizing the second number of selected vehicle options fields.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a vehicle valuation utilizing the second number of selected vehicle options fields.

7. A non-transitory computer program storage medium, comprising computer-readable instructions to provide vehicle information and vehicle options information for an insurance claim, execution of said computer-readable instructions by at least on processor performs the steps of:

displaying at least one insurance vehicle identification page, the insurance vehicle identification page includes a plurality of vehicle information fields, a plurality of vehicle options fields, and a vehicle identification number field;

determining vehicle description information and vehicle identification number vehicle option information by decoding a vehicle identification number entered into the vehicle identification number field;

inserting the vehicle description information into at least one of the insurance vehicle information fields and selecting a first number of vehicle options fields based on the vehicle identification number vehicle option information;

retrieving original equipment manufacturer vehicle option information from an original equipment manufacturer source,

comparing, using at least one linking page, the vehicle identification number vehicle option information with the original equipment manufacturer vehicle option information; and

,

changing the first number of selected vehicle options fields to a second number of selected vehicle options fields if the original equipment manufacturer vehicle option information is different than the vehicle identification number vehicle option information using the at least one linking page.

8. The non-transitory computer program storage medium of claim 7, wherein the first number of selected vehicle options fields is changed to the second number of selected vehicle options fields by deselecting at least one of the vehicle options fields selected with the vehicle identification number vehicle option information.

9. The non-transitory computer program storage medium of claim 7, further comprising deselecting one of the first number of selected vehicle options fields in response to a user input.

10. The non-transitory computer program storage medium of claim 7, wherein the first number of selected vehicle options fields is changed to the second number of selected vehicle options fields by selecting at least one of the vehicle options fields that was not selected with the vehicle identification number VIN vehicle option information and is added by the original equipment manufacturer vehicle option information.

11. The non-transitory computer program storage medium of claim 7, further comprising generating a repair cost estimate utilizing the second number of selected vehicle options fields.

12. The non-transitory computer program storage medium of claim 7, further comprising generating a vehicle valuation utilizing the second number of selected vehicle options fields.