Quoting insurance premiums

• US 8,577,699 B1
• Filed: 09/03/2007
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Original Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Inventors: Diener, Raymond Robert, Shah, Sunita, Wright, Richard Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Holly, John H
• Application Number:
  US11/849,317
• Time in Patent Office: 2,255 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/4, 705/1.1, 705/2, 705/35, 705/38, 705/26.1, 434/236, 707/101, 707/10, 707/4
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed for providing quotes on multiple types of insurance policies concurrently. The quotes are individually personalized rather than a class or group quote. The methods and systems significantly reduce the number of insurability questions required to obtain a quote. This reduced set of questions may be used to generate quotes on multiple policies concurrently for a given type of insurance. The methods and systems, however, are applicable to multiple types of insurance. Similarly, the quotes may be “directionally correct” quotes, or they may be provided as a range of possible premiums. Quotes for family members may also be obtained at the same time on similar insurance policies. Personal information may be automatically prefilled to the extent such information is available. Other aspects include the ability to apply for the quoted insurance policies directly from the quotes and to save the quotes for subsequent retrieval.

Claims

1. A system for providing a proposed insured with premium quotations on multiple types of policies for a given type of insurance, the system comprising:

at least one subsystem configured to obtain a request for premium quotation for multiple types of policies for a given type of insurance for a proposed insured;

at least one subsystem configured to;

check the validity of the request for premium quotation against a set of rules related to the type of insurance; and

provide contact information of an insurance company when at least one rule of the set of rules has been triggered;

at least one subsystem configured to obtain coverage selections for the proposed insured for the multiple types of policies for the given type of insurance;

at least one subsystem configured to obtain responses from the proposed insured to a set of insurability questions relating to the type of insurance;

at least one subsystem including a processor configured to generate the requested quotations of premium for each of the multiple types of policies for the given type of insurance, wherein the quotations are based on the coverage selections and the responses of the proposed insured to the set of insurability questions; and

at least one subsystem configured to present the quotations of premium for each of the multiple types of policies for the given type of insurance concurrently to the proposed insured;

wherein the policies are insurance policies.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the given type of insurance comprises one of:

life insurance, automobile insurance, and property insurance.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the multiple types of policies comprise more than one of:

a term life insurance policy, a whole life insurance policy, and a Universal life insurance policy.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one subsystem configured to allow the proposed insured to store one or more quotations of premium and to subsequently retrieve the one or more quotations of premium.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein each one of the quotations of premium comprises one of:

a directionally correct premium, and a range of possible actual premiums.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the obtaining and the presenting are performed by a front-end computer, and the generating is performed by a separate backend computer.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising at least one subsystem configured to validate each quotation of premium at the backend computer using one or more premium validation rules.

8. A computer-implemented method of providing a proposed insured with premium quotations on multiple types of policies for a given type of insurance, the method comprising:

obtaining a request for premium quotation for multiple types of policies for a given type of insurance for a proposed insured;

checking, by a computer, the validity of the request for premium quotation against a set of rules related to the type of insurance;

providing, by the computer, contact information of an insurance company when at least one rule of the set of rules has been triggered;

obtaining, by a computer, coverage selections for the proposed insured for the multiple types of policies for the given type of insurance;

obtaining, by a computer, responses from the proposed insured to a set of insurability questions relating to the type of insurance;

generating, by a computer, the requested quotations of premium for each of the multiple types of policies for the given type of insurance, wherein the quotations are based on the coverage selections and the responses of the proposed insured to the set of insurability questions; and

presenting, by a computer, the quotations of premium for each of the multiple types of policies for the given type of insurance concurrently to the proposed insured;

wherein the policies are insurance policies.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the given type of insurance comprises one of:

life insurance, automobile insurance, and property insurance.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the multiple types of policies comprise more than one of:

a term life insurance policy, a whole life insurance policy, and a Universal life insurance policy.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising allowing, by a computer, the proposed insured to store one or more quotations of premium and to subsequently retrieve the one or more quotations of premium.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein each one of the quotations of premium comprises one of:

a directionally correct premium, and range of possible actual premiums.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the obtaining and the presenting are performed by a front-end computer, and the generating is performed by a separate backend computer.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising validating each quotation of premium at the backend computer using one or more premium validation rules.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for providing a proposed insured with premium quotations on multiple types of policies for a given type of insurance, the instructions comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

obtain a request for premium quotation for multiple types of policies for a given type of insurance for a proposed insured;

check the validity of the request for premium quotation against a set of rules related to the type of insurance;

provide contact information of an insurance company when at least one rule of the set of rules has been triggered;

obtain coverage selections for the proposed insured for the multiple types of policies for the given type of insurance;

obtain responses from the proposed insured to a set of insurability questions relating to the type of insurance;

generate the requested quotations of premium for each of the multiple types of policies for the given type of insurance, wherein the quotations are based on the coverage selections and the responses of the proposed insured to the set of insurability questions; and

present the quotations of premium for each of the multiple types of policies for the given type of insurance concurrently to the proposed insured;

wherein the policies are insurance policies.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the given type of insurance comprises one of:

life insurance, automobile insurance, and property insurance.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the multiple types of insurance policies comprise more than one of:

a term life insurance policy, a whole life insurance policy, and a Universal life insurance policy.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions for causing a computer to allow the proposed insured to store one or more quotations of premium and to subsequently retrieve the one or more quotations of premium.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein each one of the quotations of premium comprises one of:

a directionally correct premium, and range of possible actual premiums.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the obtaining and the presenting are preformed by a front-end computer, and the generating is performed by a separate backend computer.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising instructions for causing a computer to validate each quotation of premium at the backend computer using one or more premium validation rules.