Patent Issued for Systems and methods for reserving a replacement rental vehicle (USPTO 11120497): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2021 OCT 06 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11120497, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Ackers, Matt (Bloomington, IL, US), Adler, Michelle (Bloomington, IL, US), Azkin, Cagatay (Suwanee, GA, US), Brown, Eric (Dunwoody, GA, US), Ferguson, Denise (Roswell, GA, US), Foster, Andrea (Dunwoody, GA, US), Gonzalez, Jose (Hialeah, FL, US), Hall, Ivan (Bloomington, IL, US), Herring, Tracey (Clarkston, GA, US), Lenz, Kevin (Bloomington, IL, US), Miller, Brian (Downs, IL, US), Musciotto, Norma (Alpharetta, GA, US), Odje, Itobore (Atlanta, GA, US), Schumann, Josh (Bloomington, IL, US), Sen, Sanjay (Marietta, GA, US), Sharp, Chris (Sandy Springs, GA, US), Simonovich, Billy (Clinton, IL, US), Stought, Steve (Sugar Hill, GA, US), Vermeyen, Scott (Atlanta, GA, US), Zereena Parveen, Tarikere Yunus (Cumming, GA, US).

This patent was filed on July 3, 2018 and was published online on September 14, 2021.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “An automobile insurance policyholder may report a loss of vehicle use with the policyholder’s insurer when his or her vehicle is not drivable due to damage. For example, vehicle damage may occur due to a vehicular accident or a hit-and-run accident. Most often, a policyholder needs to rent a vehicle while his or her vehicle is being repaired. This may require the policyholder to not only file a claim with their insurer, but also communicate extensively with their claims handler and/or insurance agents to arrange for a replacement vehicle. Oftentimes, policyholders face long claim handling times and confusion during the claims process as policyholders are frequently transferred between different departments. Depending on the circumstances surrounding the reported loss and the policyholder’s specific insurance provisions, a policyholder may experience difficulties while trying to secure a rental vehicle. Furthermore, the claims process typically takes some time, and requires extensive communication between the policyholder, the claims handler, the rental vendor, and the repair facility. There exists a need for a policyholder who has filed a loss with their insurer to initiate a rental reservation process on his or her own without having to go through a claims handler.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may relate to systems and methods for reserving a replacement rental vehicle after submission of an initial loss claim submission. The system may include a rental self-service (“RSS”) computer system, one or more insurance network computer devices, one or more rental vendor computer devices, and/or one or more repair facility computer devices. The RSS computer system may be associated with an insurance network, or may be separate from an insurance network but be in communication with an insurance network.

“The RSS computer system may be configured to: (i) retrieve policyholder insurance data from an insurance provider database using a claim identifier and a policyholder identifier; (ii) verify that the policyholder is eligible to receive an insurance replacement rental by performing a rules-based eligibility check; (iii) cause to be displayed on a user device associated with the policyholder a searchable interface that is configured to enable the policyholder to search for at least one rental vendor location; (iv) receive a selected vehicle class inputted by the policyholder; (v) calculate a policyholder cost for the selected vehicle class; (vi) display a cost summary to the policyholder; and (vii) receive, from the policyholder, confirmation of a rental reservation request.

“In one aspect, a rental self-service (“RSS”) computer system configured to enable a policyholder of an automobile insurance policy to initiate an insurance replacement rental reservation may be provided. In some exemplary embodiments, the RSS computer system may include a processor in communication with a memory. The processor may be programmed to: (i) retrieve, from an insurance provider database, policyholder insurance data using a claim identifier associated with the initial loss claim submission, and a policyholder identifier associated with the policyholder, the insurance provider database associated with an insurance provider providing the automobile insurance policy to the policyholder; (ii) verify that the policyholder is eligible to receive an insurance replacement rental by performing an eligibility check using the claim identifier and the policyholder identifier, wherein the eligibility check includes applying eligibility rules stored in the memory to determine policyholder eligibility; (iii) cause to be displayed on a user device associated with the policyholder a searchable interface that is prepopulated with at least some of the policyholder insurance data and linked to a subset of rental vehicle data stored within the memory, the searchable interface configured to enable the policyholder to search for at least one rental vendor location of at least one rental vendor applicable to the policyholder; (iv) receive a selected vehicle class inputted by the policyholder via the user device, wherein the selected vehicle class is available for rent at the at least one rental vendor location; (v) calculate, a policyholder cost for the selected vehicle class based upon the policyholder insurance data, the selected vehicle class, and the rental vehicle data for the at least one rental vendor; (vi) display, to the policyholder, a cost summary including the policyholder cost and information as to the calculation of the policyholder cost; and (vii) receive, from the policyholder, confirmation of a rental reservation request of the selected vehicle class at the at least one rental vendor location. The RSS computer system may have additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer-implemented method for enabling a policyholder of an automobile insurance policy to initiate an insurance replacement rental reservation may be provided. The method may be implemented using a rental self-service (“RSS”) computing device. The RSS computing device may include at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device. The method may include: (i) retrieving, by the RSS computing device, policyholder insurance data from an insurance provider database using a claim identifier associated with the initial loss claim submission, and a policyholder identifier associated with the policyholder, the insurance provider database associated with an insurance provider providing the automobile insurance policy to the policyholder; (ii) verifying that the policyholder is eligible to receive an insurance replacement rental by performing an eligibility check using the claim identifier and the policyholder identifier, wherein the eligibility check includes applying eligibility rules stored in the memory to determine policyholder eligibility; (iii) causing to be displayed on a user device associated with the policyholder a searchable interface that is prepopulated with at least some of the policyholder insurance data and linked to a subset of rental vehicle data stored within the memory, the searchable interface configured to enable the policyholder to search for at least one rental vendor location of at least one rental vendor applicable to the policyholder; (iv) receiving a selected vehicle class inputted by the policyholder via the user device, wherein the selected vehicle class is available for rent at the at least one rental vendor location; (v) calculating a policyholder cost for the selected vehicle class based upon the policyholder insurance data, the selected vehicle class, and the rental vehicle data for the at least one rental vendor; (vi) displaying, to the policyholder, a cost summary including the policyholder cost and information as to the calculation of the policyholder cost; and (vi) receiving, by the RSS computing device from the policyholder, confirmation of a rental reservation request of the selected vehicle class at the at least one rental vendor location. The method may have additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In at least one further aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for enabling a policyholder of an automobile insurance policy to initiate an insurance replacement rental reservation may be provided. When executed by at least one processor of an RSS computing device, the computer-executable instructions may cause the at least one processor to: (i) retrieve, from an insurance provider database, policyholder insurance data using a claim identifier associated with the initial loss claim submission, and a policyholder identifier associated with the policyholder, the insurance provider database associated with an insurance provider providing an automobile insurance policy to the policyholder; (ii) verify that the policyholder is eligible to receive an insurance replacement rental by performing an eligibility check using the claim identifier and the policyholder identifier, wherein the eligibility check includes applying stored eligibility rules to determine policyholder eligibility; (iii) cause to be displayed on a user device associated with the policyholder a searchable interface that is prepopulated with at least some of the policyholder insurance data and linked to a subset of stored rental vehicle data, the searchable interface configured to enable the policyholder to search for at least one rental vendor location of at least one rental vendor applicable to the policyholder; (iv) receive a selected vehicle class inputted by the policyholder via the user device, wherein the selected vehicle class is available for rent at the at least one rental vendor location; (v) calculate, a policyholder cost for the selected vehicle class based upon the policyholder insurance data, the selected vehicle class, and the rental vehicle data for the at least one rental vendor; (vi) display, to the policyholder, a cost summary including the policyholder cost and information as to the calculation of the policyholder cost; and (vii) receive, from the policyholder, confirmation of a rental reservation request of the selected vehicle class at the at least one rental vendor location. The computer-executable instructions may have additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A rental self-service (“RSS”) computer system for enabling a policyholder of an automobile insurance policy to initiate an insurance replacement rental reservation, the RSS computer system comprising a processor in communication with a memory, said processor programmed to: retrieve, from an insurance provider database, policyholder insurance data using (i) a claim identifier associated with an initial loss claim filed by the policyholder, and (ii) a policyholder identifier associated with the policyholder, the insurance provider database associated with an insurance provider providing the automobile insurance policy to the policyholder; verify that the policyholder is eligible to receive an insurance replacement rental by performing an eligibility check using the claim identifier and the policyholder identifier, wherein the eligibility check includes applying eligibility rules stored in the memory to determine policyholder eligibility; in response to the policyholder being verified as eligible, generate a customized link including a representation of the claim identifier and the policyholder identifier; transmit, to a user device associated with the policyholder, the customized link; in response to user selection of the customized link at the user device, receive, from the user device, a request for access of a rental self-service portal, the request identifying the customized link selected by the user; retrieve, from the insurance provider database, using the representation of the claim identifier and the policyholder identifier extracted from the customized link identified in the access request, and without additional input from the policyholder, at least some of the policyholder insurance data; pre-populate a policyholder information portion of a searchable interface of the rental self-service portal using the retrieved policyholder data, the searchable interface configured to enable the policyholder to search for rentable vehicles from a plurality of vendors; cause the pre-populated searchable interface to be displayed on the user device; in response to receiving user search input into the searchable interface, retrieve, using the user search input, rental vehicle data, via Application Programming Interface (API) calls, from a plurality of vendor computing devices, the rental vehicle data including vehicle classes, vehicle rental quotes, and rental vendor locations associated with the plurality of vendors; cause the retrieved rental vehicle data to be displayed on the user device to enable the policyholder to view available rental options; receive, via the user device, a selection of a vehicle class available for rent at a selected rental vendor location; calculate, a policyholder cost for renting the selected vehicle class based upon the policyholder insurance data and a corresponding vehicle rental quote retrieved for the selected vehicle class, the policyholder cost including a difference between a covered rental amount indicated in the retrieved policyholder insurance data and a rental cost indicated in the vehicle rental quote; and cause to be displayed on the user device, (i) the-calculated policyholder cost and (ii) an option to confirm the rental reservation.

“2. The RSS computer system of claim 1, wherein the policyholder insurance data includes rental vehicle provisions of the automobile insurance policy as of the date and time the claim identifier is generated.

“3. The RSS computer system of claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to provide, to the policyholder, a delivery option, wherein the delivery option enables the policyholder to schedule at least one of a vehicle pick-up at the selected rental vendor location and a vehicle delivery, by the selected rental vendor location, to the policyholder.

“4. The RSS computer system of claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to verify that the policyholder is eligible to receive an insurance replacement rental by determining that a pay code for the initial loss claim has been generated and stored within the memory.

“5. The RSS computer system of claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to transmit the rental reservation and at least some of the policyholder insurance data to the selected rental vendor location.

“6. The RSS computer system of claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to update a claim file of the policyholder to include the rental reservation, and wherein the claim file contains information associated with the initial loss claim.

“7. The RSS computer system of claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to generate a file note for a claims handler, wherein the file note includes the rental reservation.

“8. The RSS computer system of claim 1, wherein the searchable interface is configured to enable the policyholder to search for rentable vehicles based at least on a geolocation input by the policyholder.

“9. The RSS computer system of claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to: retrieve, from the insurance provider database, repair facility information of at least one repair facility associated with the policyholder; and cause to be displayed on the user device, available rental vendor locations near the at least one repair facility.

“10. A computer-implemented method for enabling a policyholder of an automobile insurance policy to initiate an insurance replacement rental reservation, the method implemented on a rental self-service (“RSS”) computing device including at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device, the method comprising: retrieving, by the RSS computing device, policyholder insurance data from an insurance provider database, using (i) a claim identifier associated with an initial loss claim filed by the policyholder, and (ii) a policyholder identifier associated with the policyholder, the insurance provider database associated with an insurance provider providing the automobile insurance policy to the policyholder; verifying that the policyholder is eligible to receive an insurance replacement rental by performing an eligibility check using the claim identifier and the policyholder identifier, wherein the eligibility check includes applying eligibility rules stored in the memory to determine policyholder eligibility; in response to the policyholder being verified as eligible, generating a customized link including a representation of the claim identifier and the policyholder identifier; transmitting, to a user device associated with the policyholder, the customized link; in response to user selection of the customized link at the user device, receiving, from the user device, a request for access of a rental self-service portal, the request identifying the customized link selected by the user; retrieving, from the insurance provider database, using the representation of the claim identifier and the policyholder identifier extracted from the customized link identified in the access request, and without additional input from the policyholder, at least some of the policyholder insurance data; pre-populating a policyholder information portion of a searchable interface of the rental self-service portal using the retrieved policyholder data, the searchable interface configured to enable the policyholder to search for rentable vehicles from a plurality of vendors; causing the pre-populated searchable interface to be displayed on the user device; in response to receiving user search input into the pre-populated searchable interface, retrieving, using the user search input, rental vehicle data, via Application Programming Interface (API) calls, from a plurality of vendor computing devices, the rental vehicle data including vehicle classes, vehicle rental quotes, and rental vendor locations associated with the plurality of vendors; causing the retrieved rental vehicle data to be displayed on the user device to enable the policyholder to view available rental options; receiving, via the user device, a selection of a vehicle class available for rent at a selected rental vendor location; calculating a policyholder cost for renting the selected vehicle class based upon the policyholder insurance data and a corresponding vehicle rental quote retrieved for the selected vehicle class, the policyholder cost including a difference between a covered rental amount indicated in the retrieved policyholder insurance data and a rental cost indicated in the vehicle rental quote; and causing to be displayed on the user device, (i) the calculated policyholder cost and (ii) an option to confirm the rental reservation.

“11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the policyholder insurance data includes rental vehicle provisions of the automobile insurance policy as of the date and time the claim identifier is generated.

“12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising providing, to the policyholder, a delivery option, wherein the delivery option enables the policyholder to schedule at least one of a vehicle pick-up at the selected rental vendor location and a vehicle delivery, by the selected rental vendor location, to the policyholder.

“13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein verifying that the policyholder is eligible to receive an insurance replacement rental further comprises determining that a pay code for the initial loss claim has been generated and stored within the memory.

“14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising transmitting the rental reservation and at least some of the policyholder insurance data to the selected rental vendor location.

“15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the searchable interface is configured to enable the policyholder to search for rentable vehicles based at least on a geolocation input by the policyholder.”

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

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Ackers, Matt. Systems and methods for reserving a replacement rental vehicle. U.S. Patent Number 11120497, filed July 3, 2018, and published online on September 14, 2021. 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=11120497.PN.&OS=PN/11120497RS=PN/11120497

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)