Patent Issued for System and method for accumulation and maintenance of money in a vehicle maintenance savings account (USPTO 11295312): Allstate Insurance Company

2022 APR 25 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11295312, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Aabram, Michael P. (Naperville, IL, US), Irey, Grady (Des Plaines, IL, US).

This patent was filed on April 27, 2021 and was published online on April 5, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Vehicle maintenance and repair can be extremely expensive. Often, drivers forego costly, but necessary, maintenance and repairs due to lack of funds. By doing such, the drivers expose others to the risks associated with poorly maintained, unsafe vehicles.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The following presents a simplified summary of various aspects described herein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intended to identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of the claims. The following summary merely presents some concepts in a simplified form as an introductory prelude to the more detailed description provided below.

“Aspects of the present disclosure are directed toward methods, computer-readable media, software, systems and apparatuses that provide a vehicle maintenance savings account system for accumulation and maintenance of funds (e.g., money, a money proxy or a combination thereof), safe driving points and/or rewards that may be used to pay for the costs of maintaining and/or operating a vehicle (e.g., costs of maintenance and operation associated with ownership, leasing or renting a vehicle) and/or driver safety. For instance, a balance of the account may be used to pay for driver’s education, driver’s safety courses, attention improvement/maintenance courses, visual acuity improvement/maintenance courses, vehicle maintenance, repair, inspections, registration, check-ups, replacement parts, emissions testing, government stickers, taxes, license plates, insurance premiums, insurance deductibles, safety products, sensors/monitors, disposal fees, new vehicles of a certain type, etc. The vehicle maintenance savings account system may collect and analyze user data, and may accumulate funds for the user when the user engages in certain user behaviors (e.g., safe driving behaviors, purchase behaviors, account use behaviors, etc.). The vehicle maintenance savings account system may allow the user to both spend and transfer the vehicle maintenance savings account balance to other individuals. Subject to any applicable regulations, users may be provided rebates and/or account funds for engaging in certain user behaviors. The user may be an insurance customer or non-insurance customer, driver or non-driver.

“The balance of the vehicle maintenance savings account may be increased via various avenues. According to certain aspects, a user may pre-designate a monthly and/or periodic amount that will be withdrawn from a bank account of the user (e.g., checking and/or savings account, money market account, etc.) and placed into the vehicle maintenance savings account. In some aspects, such monthly and/or periodic amount is paid simultaneously with an insurance premium payment and placed into the vehicle maintenance savings account. Additionally or alternatively, a user may elect to have a portion of a pay check or other regular deposit directed to the vehicle maintenance savings account.

“In addition or in the alternative to user designations, the account balance may grow or increase via employer designations, insurance company designations, family/friend designations, and/or transfers from another user’s vehicle maintenance savings account. In certain embodiments, the account manager designates funds to the vehicle maintenance savings account based on certain user behavior (e.g., the user’s use of safety programs, use of particular authorized, certified or preferred services, shops or providers, referral of friends/family, use of social media to recommend the vehicle maintenance savings account program, safe driving, accumulation of good driver rewards checks, use of safe driver/vehicle data mobile applications, purchase of particular insurance products, use of particular insurance programs/services, purchase of particular safety products, purchase of fuel at a particular station, participation in a rewards program of a particular fuel/oil station/company, carpooling, being a passenger (e.g., not driving), using public transportation, renewing insurance, using the vehicle maintenance savings account during a particular time period, joining a vehicle maintenance savings account funds pool, adding additional vehicles to the account, providing information regarding vehicle repair or maintenance even when a warranty covers the cost, participating in a program that allows for provider/service recommendations to be provided to the user, maintaining/meeting a regular schedule of maintenance, driving a certain number of miles, purchasing another type of insurance policy, using a program or mobile application to book vehicle repair and maintenance appointments, being claim free and accident free for a particular period of time, etc.).

“In certain aspects, the balance of the vehicle maintenance savings account includes pre-tax funds. In other aspects, the balance of the account may be used to pay for tax-deductible costs of meeting certain safety and environmental standards.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system comprising: at least one processor; an electronic communication interface in signal communication with an electronic communication network; and a memory storing computer-readable instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: execute an application configured to detect telematics data by a telematics device in signal communication with the at least one processor and a plurality of sensors; initiate a communication session with the telematics device; receive, in real-time and via the communication session, the telematics data including data received from the plurality of sensors, the telematics data including a plurality of driving events, each driving event including at least two metrics based on at least one of: speed, acceleration, braking and turning; determine whether the at least two metrics match predefined criteria for a safe driving behavior; responsive to determining that the at least two metrics match predefined criteria for the safe driving behavior, identify an amount of funds to be added to a balance of funds in a vehicle maintenance savings account associated with a first user; cause the balance of funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account associated with the first user to be increased by the amount of funds to be added to the balance of funds; receive, at the electronic communication interface via the electronic communication network, a first electronic communication indicating that the amount of funds has been added to the balance of funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account associated with the first user; receive, at the electronic communication interface via the electronic communication network, transaction data related to at least one transaction for the first user using at least a portion of the balance of funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account, wherein the transaction data includes a cost of the at least one transaction and an identification of what is being purchased; and cause, via the at least one processor, initiation of a payment of the cost of the at least one transaction using the funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the cost of the at least one transaction is a cost associated with courses or products selected from a group comprising of driver’s education, driver’s safety, attention improvement, attention maintenance, visual acuity improvement, visual acuity maintenance, and combinations thereof.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the cost of the at least one transaction, with respect to a vehicle, is selected from a group comprising of: maintenance, repair, inspections, registration, check-ups, replacement parts, roadside assistance, emissions testing, government stickers, taxes, license plates, insurance premiums, insurance deductibles, safety products, sensors, monitors, disposal fees, replacements, and combinations thereof.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the initiation of the payment causes the balance of funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account to become negative.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle maintenance savings account is managed by an insurance company or an external non-insurance hosting entity.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle maintenance savings account is managed by a first insurance company and the first user does not have an insurance policy with the first insurance company.

“7. The system of claim 6, wherein: the first user has an insurance policy with a second insurance company different from the first insurance company; the at least one transaction comprises payment of an insurance premium or insurance deductible of the second insurance company; and the first insurance company, initiates payment, via the at least one processor, of the cost of the at least one transaction from the vehicle maintenance savings account to the second insurance company.

“8. The system of claim 1, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the system to: responsive to determining that the at least two metrics match predefined criteria for the safe driving behavior, determine that the safe driving behavior qualifies for a multiplier bonus, wherein identifying the amount of funds to be added to the balance of funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account associated with the first user includes multiplying the amount of funds to be added to the balance of funds by the multiplier bonus to identify an enhanced amount of funds, and wherein causing the balance of funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account associated with the first user to be increased by the amount of funds to be added to the balance of funds further includes increasing the balance of funds by the enhanced amount of funds.

“9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one transaction comprises transfer of at least a portion of the balance of funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account to a vehicle maintenance savings account of a second user.

“10. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to: access, via the electronic communication network, a set of balance-affecting events; determine, via the at least one processor, whether or not the at least one transaction qualifies as at least one balance-affecting event based, at least in part, on a comparison, via the at least one processor, of the transaction data to the set of balance-affecting events; responsive to a determination that the at least one transaction qualifies as the at least one balance-affecting event, calculate, via the at least one processor, a first balance increase amount to be applied to the balance of funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account; and increment, via the at least one processor, the balance of funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account by the first balance increase amount.

“11. The system of claim 10, wherein the set of balance-affecting events comprises purchase of i) certified, preferred or authorized products; or ii) services from certified, preferred or authorized vendors, merchants or providers.

“12. The system of claim 10, wherein the first balance increase amount is a percentage of the cost of the at least one transaction.

“13. The system of claim 1, wherein causing, via the at least one processor, initiation of the payment of the cost of the at least one transaction using the funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account further includes generating a payment device including a scannable code.

“14. The system of claim 13, wherein the scannable code is at least one of a bar code and a quick response (QR) code.

“15. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one transaction is a fuel purchase, and wherein causing, via the at least one processor, initiation of the payment of the cost of the at least one transaction using the funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account further includes transmitting an instruction to a fuel dispensing device to dispense fuel.

“16. The system of claim 1, wherein identifying the amount of funds to be added to a balance of funds in a vehicle maintenance savings account associated with a first user further includes: identifying a number of points associated with the safe driving behavior; and converting, based on a predetermined conversion rate, the number of points to the amount of funds.

“17. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause a computing device to: execute an application configured to detect telematics data by a telematics device; initiate a communication session with the telematics device; receive, in real-time and via the communication session, the telematics data including data received from a plurality of vehicle sensors, the telematics data including a plurality of driving events, each driving event including at least two metrics based on at least one of: speed, acceleration, braking and turning; determine whether the at least two metrics match predefined criteria for a safe driving behavior; responsive to determining that the at least two metrics match predefined criteria for the safe driving behavior, identify an amount of funds to be added to a balance of funds in a vehicle maintenance savings account associated with a first user; cause the balance of funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account associated with the first user to be increased by the amount of funds to be added to the balance of funds; receive, at an electronic communication interface via an electronic communication network, a first electronic communication indicating that the amount of funds has been added to the balance of funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account associated with the first user; receive, at the electronic communication interface via the electronic communication network, transaction data related to at least one transaction to be made by the first user using at least a portion of the balance of funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account, wherein the transaction data includes a cost associated with the at least one transaction and an identification of what is being purchased; and cause, via the at least one processor, initiation of a payment of the cost of the at least one transaction using the funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account.

“18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the at least one transaction is a fuel purchase, and wherein causing, via the at least one processor, initiation of the payment of the cost of the at least one transaction using the funds in the vehicle maintenance savings account further includes transmitting an instruction to a fuel dispensing device to dispense fuel.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Aabram, Michael P. System and method for accumulation and maintenance of money in a vehicle maintenance savings account. U.S. Patent Number 11295312, filed April 27, 2021, and published online on April 5, 2022. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11295312.PN.&OS=PN/11295312RS=PN/11295312

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