Insurance incentive program for promoting the purchase or release of an automobile after an expiration of a lease

• US 7,949,556 B1
• Filed: 07/11/2007
• Issued: 05/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: In The Car LLC
• Original Assignee: Disruptive Technologies, Ltd.
• Inventors: Jackson, Jasper, Wallach, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Frenel; Vanel
• Application Number:
  US11/776,507
• Time in Patent Office: 1,413 Days
• Field of Search: 705/36.R, 705/4, 705/14, 705/37, 705/38
• US Class Current: 705/14.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/012 Providing warranty services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

A lessee of an item, such as an automobile, is encouraged to either purchase the automobile at the expiration of the lease, or to initiate a new lease for the same item. If the lessee undertakes a purchase or a new lease, a manufacturer of the item, or another party, provides insurance covering the item. The methods disclosed herein may be performed over a computer network, such as the Internet.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method for encouraging the purchase or re-leasing of an item after an expiration of a lease, comprising:

identifying via a processor a lease on an item, the lease having an approaching expiration date;

identifying a customer corresponding to the lease; and

offering the customer a paid insurance policy in exchange for purchasing or re-leasing the item after the expiration date.

2. A processor-implemented method for encouraging the purchase or re-leasing of an item after an expiration of a lease associated with a leased item, comprising:

retrieving an electronic record associated with the leased item that, wherein the item'"'"'s lease has an approaching expiration date;

querying via a processor a customer parameter associated with the electronic record;

determining a difference between an actual residual value and a projected residual value of the leased item; and

determining an insurance premium for an insurance policy for the leased item that does not to exceed the difference between actual and projected residual values of the item; and

transmitting an offer to pay the insurance premium on behalf of the customer, if the customer purchases or re-leases the item at the expiration of the lease, wherein the insurance policy has a term that extends beyond the lease expiration date.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the item is an automobile of a particular model and the insurance policy covers comprehensive losses relating to an insurance claim related to the item or collision losses relating to the item.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

transmitting an offer to pay that involves paying a premium to an insurance provider on behalf of the customer for the insurance policy associated with the item.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the insurance policy has a maximum term of one year.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the insurance policy is provided without consideration of individual characteristics associated with the customer.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the incentive offer is transmitted to customers that qualify, wherein qualification is based on residing in a selected geographic region.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein said paying further comprises:

paying the insurance premium to an affiliate for the insurance policy.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the insurance is provided based on a class of the item and a qualifying geographic region, without consideration of individual characteristics associated with the customer.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the insurance policy covers all users of the item.

11. A processor-implemented method for providing an incentive to purchase or re-lease an automobile, comprising:

generating via a processor a listing of one or more automobile makes or models that qualify for an incentive to encourage the sale or re-lease of a qualifying automobile;

identifying at least one selected geographic region wherein it is desired to provide the incentive;

identifying one or more leased automobiles, each of said leased automobiles is one of the qualifying automobile makes or models, each of said one or more leased automobiles owned by a respective lessee in said at least one selected geographic region, and each of said one or more leased automobiles has a lease expiration date within a pre-determined incentive offer window;

calculating for each of said one or more leased automobiles a difference value comprising the difference between a projected residual value at the initiation of the lease and an actual residual value at the expiration date of the lease;

selecting an insurance policy covering a lessee for each respective one or more leased automobiles, wherein the insurance policy has a premium that is less than said difference value;

transmitting to the lessee an incentive, wherein the inventive includes an offer to pay at least a portion of the insurance premium for the selected insurance policy if the lessee purchases or re-leases the currently leased automobile upon the lease expiration date;

paying, upon the purchase or re-lease each leased automobiles by a current lessee, at least a portion of the cost of the automobile insurance policy covering said current lessee for each respective purchased or re-leased automobile; and

providing the automobile insurance policy to the current lessee for the respective purchased or re-leased automobile.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the incentive includes an offer to pay the entirety of said insurance premium or an offer to provide an additional incentive upon the purchase or re-lease of the currently leased automobile, wherein said additional incentive is selected from a group comprising:

an extended warranty, a rebate on a purchase and a lowered interest rate on financing or re-lease.

13. An apparatus for providing an incentive to purchase or re-lease an automobile, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory for storing a plurality of processing instructions enabling the processor to;

determine one or more automobile makes or models that qualify for an incentive to encourage the sale or re-lease of a qualifying automobile;

identify at least one selected geographic region wherein it is desired to provide the incentive;

identify one or more leased automobiles, each of said leased automobiles is one of the qualifying automobile makes or models, each of said one or more leased automobiles owned by a respective lessee in said at least one selected geographic region, and each of said one or more leased automobiles has a lease expiration date within a pre-determined incentive offer window;

calculate for each of said one or more leased automobiles a difference value comprising the difference between a projected residual value at the initiation of the lease and an actual residual value at the expiration date of the lease;

select an insurance policy covering a lessee for each respective one or more leased automobiles, wherein the insurance policy has a premium that is less than said difference value;

transmit to the lessee an incentive, wherein the inventive includes an offer to pay at least a portion of the insurance premium for the selected insurance policy if the lessee purchases or re-leases the currently leased automobile upon the lease expiration date;

pay, upon the purchase or re-lease each leased automobiles by a current lessee, at least a portion of the cost of the automobile insurance policy covering said current lessee for each respective purchased or re-leased automobile; and

provide the automobile insurance policy to the current lessee for the respective purchased or re-leased automobile.