System and method for obtaining competitive pricing for vehicle services

• US 10,600,096 B2
• Filed: 06/09/2011
• Issued: 03/24/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zonar Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Zonar Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Inventors: McQuade, Charles Michael, Brinton, Brett
• Primary Examiner(s): Fisher, Paul R
• Application Number:
  US13/157,184
• Publication Number:
  US 20120136527A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,211 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

In order to obtain competitive pricing for vehicle servicing, a pricing service provider is used to obtain pricing data from a plurality of service vendors. In at least some embodiments, one or more of the following types of additional information for each vendor will be provided along with the pricing data, to enable the consumer (the owner or operator of the vehicle) to make an informed selection: a rating of the vendor, a relative distance between the consumer (or known vehicle location) and the vendor, and a time period defining when the vendor will be able to accommodate the service. In at least some embodiments, a pricing service provider hosts a reverse auction for the benefit of the consumer. In at least some embodiment, the pricing service provider hosts a webpage upon which results of the service requests from the plurality of vendors are displayed.

Claims

1. A system for receiving a vehicle service request for a specific vehicle and providing pricing data from one or more vendors able to provide service for the specific vehicle, comprising:

(a) a memory in which a plurality of machine instructions are stored;

(b) a data link for receiving the vehicle service request;

(c) a processor coupled to the memory and to the data link, said processor executing the machine instructions to carry out a plurality of functions, including;

in response to receiving the vehicle service request, instructing an operator of the specific vehicle to acquire electronic vehicle performance data from a data port on the specific vehicle and to transmit the electronic vehicle performance data acquired by the operator from the data port on the specific vehicle over the data link, the electronic vehicle performance data being useful in diagnosing a vehicle service that is required;

(ii) in response to receiving the electronic vehicle performance data from the specific vehicle, evaluating the electronic vehicle performance data from the specific vehicle to validate the vehicle service that is required;

(iii) upon validating the vehicle service that is required, conveying the vehicle service request to a plurality of vendors, to enable each vendor interested in responding to the vehicle service request to provide a price quote for their services; and

(iv) in response to receiving a price quote from a vendor, conveying the price quote to at least one entity selected from a group of entities consisting of;

(A) the operator of the specific vehicle; and

(B) a third party able to convey the price quote to the operator of the specific vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein conveying the vehicle service request to the plurality of vendors includes hosting a reverse auction for servicing the specific vehicle based on the vehicle service request, wherein any vendor interested in servicing the specific vehicle enters a bid in the reverse auction.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein conveying the price quote includes using at least one communication technique selected from a group of communication techniques consisting of:

(a) communicating the price quote via email;

(b) communicating the price quote via a text message on a cellular phone;

(c) communicating the price quote via a voicemail message;

(d) generating a webpage upon which vendor information can be viewed, the vendor information including information about the vendor and the vendor'"'"'s price quote; and

(e) updating a previously generated webpage to add vendor information for an additional vendor.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein conveying the price quote includes conveying at least one type of additional information along with the price quote, the at least one type of additional information being selected from a group of additional information consisting of:

(a) an indication of how quickly each vendor can provide service for the specific vehicle, based on data provided by each vendor; and

(b) a distance between a vehicle location where the specific vehicle will be located when it will be available to be repaired and each vendor, based, in part, on vehicle location data included in the vehicle service request.

5. A system for receiving a vehicle service request for a specific vehicle and providing pricing data from one or more vendors able to provide service for the specific vehicle, comprising:

(a) a memory in which a plurality of machine instructions are stored;

(b) a data link for receiving the vehicle service request;

(c) a processor coupled to the memory and to the data link, said processor executing the machine instructions to carry out a plurality of functions, including;

(i) in response to receiving the vehicle service request, instructing an operator of the specific vehicle to acquire electronic vehicle performance data from a data port on the specific vehicle and to transmit the electronic vehicle performance data acquired by the operator from the data port on the specific vehicle over the data link, the electronic vehicle performance data being useful in diagnosing a vehicle service that is required;

(ii) in response to receiving the electronic vehicle performance data from the specific vehicle, conveying the vehicle service request and the electronic vehicle performance data from the specific vehicle to a plurality of vendors, to enable each vendor interested in responding to the vehicle service request to validate the vehicle service that is required and provide a price quote for their services; and

(iii) in response to receiving a price quote from a vendor, conveying the price quote to at least one entity selected from a group of entities consisting of;

(A) the operator of the specific vehicle; and

(B) a third party able to convey the price quote to the operator of the specific vehicle.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the machine instructions cause the processor to carry out a reverse auction for servicing the specific vehicle based on the vehicle service request, wherein any vendor interested in servicing the specific vehicle enters a bid.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the electronic vehicle performance data includes at least one of the following types of operational data:

engine coolant temperature, engine speed, throttle position, brake temperature, vehicle speed, brake position, and gearbox parameters.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the machine instructions cause the processor to convey the price quote using at least one communication technique selected from a group of communication techniques consisting of:

(a) communicating the price quote via email;

(b) communicating the price quote via a text message on a cellular phone;

(c) communicating the price quote via a voicemail message;

(d) generating a webpage upon which vendor information can be viewed, the vendor information including information about the vendor and the vendor'"'"'s price quote; and

(e) updating a previously generated webpage to add vendor information for an additional vendor.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one webpage displays a reverse auction and each vendor can access the at least one webpage and adjust their price quote based on price quotes offered by other vendors, in order to stimulate competitive price quotes.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one webpage provides at least one type of additional information selected from a group of additional information consisting of:

(a) an indication of how quickly each vendor can provide service for the specific vehicle, based on data provided by each vendor, including a time for parts to service the specific vehicle to be ordered; and

(b) a distance between a future vehicle location where the specific vehicle will be located when it will be available to be repaired and each vendor, based, in part, on the future vehicle location being included with the vehicle performance data.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one webpage provides a rating of each vendor, wherein the rating is displayed on the at least one webpage as at least one graphic icon representing the vendor'"'"'s quality rating adjacent to an identification of the vendor, where a relatively greater number of graphic icons indicates a relatively better quality rating for the vendor, wherein at least one such graphic icon comprises a wrench representing such qualification.

12. The system of claim 5, wherein the machine instructions further cause the processor to carry out a function of using the processor to analyze the electronic vehicle performance data to diagnose what service is required, where the analysis is implemented before the electronic vehicle performance data is conveyed to the plurality of vendors, such that the service diagnosis is included in vehicle information conveyed to each vendor.

13. The system of claim 5, wherein the machine instructions carry out a function causing the processor to convey the price quote in a manner that withholds vendor identification information to ensure that the operator of the vehicle operator and vendor cannot complete a transaction without interacting with a host requesting the price quotes from the vendors.

14. The system of claim 5, wherein conveying the vehicle service request and the electronic vehicle performance data from the specific vehicle to a plurality of vendors includes conveying the vehicle service request and the electronic vehicle performance data from the specific vehicle to a remote computing device to analyze the electronic vehicle performance data from the specific vehicle to diagnose what service is required based on the electronic vehicle performance data, and including that diagnosis in vehicle information conveyed to each vendor.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the remote computing device using the electronic vehicle performance data from the specific vehicle to diagnose what service is required based on the electronic vehicle performance data includes comparing at least some of the electronic vehicle performance data to a plurality of data records, each data record corresponding to a different mechanical fault.

16. The system of claim 5, wherein receiving the vehicle service request for the specific vehicle includes receiving the vehicle service request at a pricing service provider wherein a party conveying the vehicle service request to the pricing service provider comprises at least one party selected from a group of parties consisting of:

(a) an owner of the vehicle;

(b) an operator of the vehicle;

(c) a fleet operator;

(d) a private individual consumer; and

(e) a third party monitoring service that monitors data acquired from the vehicle to determine service needs of the vehicle.