Communication of insurance claim data

• US 8,788,300 B1
• Filed: 12/27/2012
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Hanson, Randall Martin, Gangaram, Srinivas Reddy, Wales, Erika Ann, Upadhyaya, Raj Albert
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Michelle L
• Application Number:
  US13/728,680
• Time in Patent Office: 572 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1- 5
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

Aspects of the invention include methods and systems for a vehicle insurance claim management application which improves communication and streamline tasks between a vehicle repair shop and an insurance company system in three general task groups: assignment (comprising work requests, estimates/photos, and reinspections), financial management, and performance measurement. Aspects of the invention also provide interoperability with different types of estimating systems that do not necessarily follow an industry standard. This interoperability is provided through an adapter module with a claim processing system to communicate with the insurance company system and the vehicle insurance claim management application. The invention is preferably accessed by a user over a computer network such as the Internet, from a remote location such as a vehicle repair shop.

Claims

1. One or more computer storage media storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, provide a vehicle insurance claim management application, the application comprising:

a first set of instructions defined by the computer readable instructions, wherein the first set of instructions translates a set of assignment data and a set of estimate data between the vehicle insurance claim management application and a vehicle repair estimating system, wherein the set of assignment data includes information about a customer, a corresponding vehicle, and a corresponding loss with the vehicle and the set of estimate data includes information about a repair estimate for the loss of the vehicle, wherein the translating is into a format accepted by the vehicle insurance claim management application, and further wherein the translating includes encrypting the set of assignment data and the set of estimate data; and

a second set of instructions defined by the computer readable instructions, wherein the second set of instructions;

receives the set of assignment data,

transfers the assignment data to the vehicle repair estimating system,

reviews the estimate data for compliance with a set of contract-based conditions, and

transfers the estimate data.

2. The computer storage media of claim 1, further comprising a third set of instructions defined by the computer readable instructions, wherein the third set of instructions translates data between the vehicle insurance claim management application and a second vehicle repair estimating system by translating a second set of assignment data and a second set of estimate data into the second vehicle repair estimating system, wherein the translating is into a format accepted by the vehicle insurance claim management application, and wherein the second vehicle repair estimating system is different than the first vehicle repair estimating system.

3. The computer storage media of claim 1, wherein the application further comprises a set of financial instructions defined by the computer readable instructions, the set of financial instructions storing and providing payment status information for the set of assignment data.

4. The computer storage media of claim 1, wherein the application further comprises a set of performance instructions defined by the computer readable instructions, the set of performance instructions storing and providing one or more performance metrics for the vehicle repair shop as compared to other vehicle repair facilities working with the insurance company.

5. The computer storage media of claim 1, wherein the estimate data comprises a photograph of a vehicle.

6. The computer storage media of claim 4, wherein the performance metric comprises a tier level and a ranking.

7. The computer storage media of claim 1, wherein the second set of instructions further provides a timeline indicating a plurality of milestone dates corresponding to a displayed vehicle work request.

8. The computer storage media of claim 1, wherein the second set of instructions further provides an interactive calendar through which the vehicle repair shop schedules repair of a vehicle corresponding to a displayed vehicle work request.

9. One or more computer storage media storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, provide a vehicle insurance claim management application, the application comprising:

a first set of instructions defined by the computer readable instructions, wherein the first set of instructions translates a first set of assignment data and a first set of estimate data between the vehicle insurance claim management application and a first vehicle repair estimating system, wherein the first set of assignment data includes information about a first customer, a first corresponding vehicle, and a first corresponding loss with the first vehicle and the first set of estimate data includes information about a first repair estimate for the loss of the first vehicle;

a second set of instructions defined by the computer readable instructions, wherein the second set of instructions translates a second set of assignment data and a second set of estimate data between the vehicle insurance claim management application and a second vehicle repair estimating system different from the first vehicle repair estimating system, wherein the second set of assignment data includes information about a second customer, a second corresponding vehicle, and a second corresponding loss with the second vehicle and the second set of estimate data includes information about a second repair estimate for the loss of the second vehicle,

wherein the first and second sets of instructions translate the first and second sets of assignment data and the first and second sets of estimate data into a format accepted by the vehicle insurance claim management application, and further wherein the translating includes encrypting the first and second sets of assignment data and the first and second sets of estimate data;

a third set of instructions defined by the computer readable instructions, the third set of instructions;

receives the first and second sets of assignment data,

transfers the assignment data to one of the first or second vehicle repair estimating systems,

receives the first and second sets of estimate data from one of the first or second vehicle repair estimating systems,

reviews the estimate data for compliance with a set of contract-based conditions, and

transfers the estimate data.

10. The computer storage media of claim 9, wherein the estimate data provided to the insurance company comprises a photograph of a vehicle.

11. The computer storage media of claim 9, wherein the third set of instructions further provides a timeline indicating a plurality of milestone dates corresponding to a displayed vehicle work request.

12. The computer storage media of claim 9, wherein the third set of instructions further provides an interactive calendar through which the vehicle repair shop schedules repair of a vehicle corresponding to a displayed vehicle work request.

13. The computer storage media of claim 9 further including a set of performance instructions defined by the computer readable instructions, the set of performance instructions storing and providing a performance metric for the vehicle repair shop as compared to other vehicle repair shops.

14. The computer storage media of claim 13, wherein the performance metric comprises a tier level and a ranking.

15. One or more computer storage media storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, provide a vehicle insurance claim management application, the application comprising:

a first set of instructions defined by the computer readable instructions, wherein the first set of instructions translates a first set of assignment data and a first set of estimate data between the vehicle insurance claim management application and a first vehicle repair estimating system, wherein the first set of assignment data includes information about a first customer, a first corresponding vehicle, and a first corresponding loss with the first vehicle and a first corresponding loss with the first vehicle and the first set of estimate data includes information about a first repair estimate for the loss of the first vehicle;

a second set of instructions defined by the computer readable instructions, wherein the second set of instructions translates a second set of assignment data and a second set of estimate data between the vehicle insurance claim management application and a second vehicle repair estimating system different from the first vehicle repair estimating system, wherein the second set of assignment data includes information about a second customer, a second corresponding vehicle, and a second corresponding loss with the second vehicle and the second set of estimate data includes information about a second repair estimate for the loss of the second vehicle,

wherein the first and second sets of instructions translate the first and second sets of assignment data and the first and second sets of estimate data into a format accepted by the vehicle insurance claim management application, and further wherein the translating includes encrypting the first and second sets of assignment data and the first and second sets of estimate data;

a third set of instructions defined by the computer readable instructions, the third set of instructions;

receives the first and second sets of assignment data,

transfers the assignment data to one of the first or second vehicle repair estimating systems,

receives the first and second sets of estimate data from one of the first or second vehicle repair estimating systems,

reviews the estimate data for compliance with a set of contract-based conditions, and

transfers the estimate data;

receives a set of reinspection data,

reviews the reinspection data,

updates the estimate data based on the reinspection data; and

a set of performance instructions defined by the computer readable instructions, wherein the set of performance instructions includes storing and providing a performance metric for a vehicle repair shop as compared to other vehicle repair shops.

16. The computer storage media of claim 15, wherein the estimate data provided to the insurance company comprises a photograph of a vehicle.

17. The computer storage media of claim 15, wherein the performance metric comprises a tier level and a ranking.

18. The computer storage media of claim 15, wherein the third set of instructions further provides a timeline indicating a plurality of milestone dates corresponding to a displayed vehicle work request.

19. The computer storage media of claim 15, wherein the third set of instructions further provides an interactive calendar through which the vehicle repair shop schedules repair of a vehicle corresponding to a displayed vehicle work request.

20. The computer storage media of claim 15 further including a set of financial instructions defined by the computer readable instructions, the set of financial instructions storing and providing payment status information for the plurality of work requests assigned to the vehicle repair shop.