System and Method for the Analysis of Pricing Data Including a Sustainable Price Range for Vehicles and Other Commodities

• US 20130018804A1
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Published: 01/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TrueCar, Inc.
• Original Assignee: TrueCar, Inc.
• Inventors: Swinson, Michael, Painter, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 10,387,833 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/306
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors

Abstract

Embodiments disclosed herein can produce and present sustainable price information to help dealers to price vehicles for sustainability and facilitate consumers in making purchase decisions. In one approach, a sustainable price range for a specific vehicle configuration may be based on an average profit margin (APM) determined utilizing historical sale prices and an estimated actual dealer cost. Other approaches may utilize some or all of the following steps: determine APM and build a model of distribution of profit margins by APM, build a model to adjust APM by certain variables, identify sustainable levels for the inventory, production, and incentives variables feeding into the APM model, plug those in to get the averages for those sustainable levels, identify sustainable percentile cutoffs for a given profit margin, then use this relationship with the now identified sustainable levels as inputs to find the overall sustainable profit margin.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

one or more computing devices; and

a vehicle data system communicatively connected to the one or more computing devices over network connections, the vehicle data system comprising a processing module, wherein the processing module is configured to;

obtain a set of historical transaction data associated with a specified vehicle configuration, where the set of historical transaction data comprises data on transactions associated with vehicles of the specified vehicle configuration;

determine pricing data corresponding to the specified vehicle configuration, wherein the pricing data includes sustainable price information determined based historical sale prices associated with the specified vehicle configuration and dealer cost associated with the specified vehicle configuration; and

generate an interface based on the pricing data, wherein the interface is configured to present the sustainable price information relative to the dealer cost associated with the specified vehicle configuration.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the dealer cost is an actual dealer cost associated with the specific vehicle configuration.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the dealer cost is an estimated actual dealer cost associated with the specific vehicle configuration.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the estimated actual dealer cost is determined by:

obtaining data on a set of dealers, wherein the data comprises information on a payout program, number of vehicles sold, and historical values associated with at least one dealer cost component, wherein the at least one dealer cost component comprises Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI);

construct a predictive model to determine an expected CSI score [x] at a particular level;

determine an expected average of the expected CSI score for a current month (E[x]);

determine an average CSI bonus payout per vehicle for the current month (E[b]) utilizing E[x]; and

adjust a base dealer cost with E[b], thereby producing the estimated actual dealer cost.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing module is further configured to determine an average profit margin.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the processing module is further configured to adjust the average profit margin to account for a plurality of variables, including incentives, inventory levels, production levels, sales volumes, or a combination thereof.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the processing module is further configured to determine historical sustainable levels for the specific vehicle configuration.

8. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions translatable by at least one processor to perform:

obtaining a set of historical transaction data associated with a specified vehicle configuration, where the set of historical transaction data comprises data on transactions associated with vehicles of the specified vehicle configuration;

determining pricing data corresponding to the specified vehicle configuration, wherein the pricing data includes sustainable price information determined based historical sale prices associated with the specified vehicle configuration and dealer cost associated with the specified vehicle configuration; and

generating an interface based on the pricing data, wherein the interface is configured to present the sustainable price information relative to the dealer cost associated with the specified vehicle configuration.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the dealer cost is an actual dealer cost associated with the specific vehicle configuration.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the dealer cost is an estimated actual dealer cost associated with the specific vehicle configuration.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the estimated actual dealer cost is determined by:

obtaining data on a set of dealers, wherein the data comprises information on a payout program, number of vehicles sold, and historical values associated with at least one dealer cost component, wherein the at least one dealer cost component comprises Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI);

constructing a predictive model to determine an expected CSI score [x] at a particular level;

determining an expected average of the expected CSI score for a current month (E[x]);

determining an average CSI bonus payout per vehicle for the current month (E[b]) utilizing E[x]; and

adjusting a base dealer cost with E[b], thereby producing the estimated actual dealer cost.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the instructions are further translatable by the at least one processor to perform:

determining an average profit margin.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the instructions are further translatable by the at least one processor to perform:

adjusting the average profit margin to account for a plurality of variables, including incentives, inventory levels, production levels, sales volumes, or a combination thereof.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the instructions are further translatable by the at least one processor to perform:

determining historical sustainable levels for the specific vehicle configuration.

15. A method, comprising:

at a vehicle data system running on one or more server machines;

obtaining a set of historical transaction data associated with a specified vehicle configuration, where the set of historical transaction data comprises data on transactions associated with vehicles of the specified vehicle configuration;

determining pricing data corresponding to the specified vehicle configuration, wherein the pricing data includes sustainable price information determined based historical sale prices associated with the specified vehicle configuration and dealer cost associated with the specified vehicle configuration; and

generating an interface based on the pricing data, wherein the interface is configured to present the sustainable price information relative to the dealer cost associated with the specified vehicle configuration.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the dealer cost is an actual dealer cost associated with the specific vehicle configuration.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the dealer cost is an estimated actual dealer cost associated with the specific vehicle configuration.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the estimated actual dealer cost is determined by:

obtaining data on a set of dealers, wherein the data comprises information on a payout program, number of vehicles sold, and historical values associated with at least one dealer cost component, wherein the at least one dealer cost component comprises Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI);

constructing a predictive model to determine an expected CSI score [x] at a particular level;

determining an expected average of the expected CSI score for a current month (E[x]);

determining an average CSI bonus payout per vehicle for the current month (E[b]) utilizing E[x]; and

adjusting a base dealer cost with E[b], thereby producing the estimated actual dealer cost.

19. The method according to claim 15, further comprising determining an average profit margin.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising adjusting the average profit margin to account for a plurality of variables, including incentives, inventory levels, production levels, sales volumes, or a combination thereof.