Insurance incentive program for promoting the purchase or lease of an automobile

Abstract

Included in the terms of a purchase or lease agreement, particularly pertaining to automobiles, a party having a business relationship with the seller or lessor, or the seller or lessor itself, agrees to provide a policy, including at least collision and/or comprehensive coverage, to a qualified buyer. The insurance coverage protects against losses related to the item being purchased or leased for a predetermined period of time. To be qualified, the purchaser or lessor must reside in a particular geographic region and purchase or lease, for example, a particular make and model of automobile. No further characteristics of the purchaser or lessor axe considered in obtaining the insurance policy. The sale or lease of the item and provision of the insurance policy may fee completed over a computer network, such as the Internet.

What is claimed is; 
     
         1 . A processor-implemented method for providing an incentive for the purchase or lease of an item, comprising:
 a. receiving an indication of a sale or lease transaction for an item, wherein the transaction involves:
 i. selling an item to a buyer or leasing the item to a lessee and providing by a third party an insurance policy for the item; 
 ii. verifying that the Model of the item involved in the transaction qualifies as an eligible Model for the transaction incentive, wherein the transaction incentive involves providing insurance to the buyer or lessee; 
 iii. verifying that the transaction occurs in a geographic region that has been designated as eligible for the transaction incentive; 
 iv. determining via a processor an insurance premium associated with providing the insurance to the buyer or lessee; 
 v. facilitating payment of the insurance premium by the third party to an insurance provider after the geographic region and item Model have been verified as eligible for the transaction incentive; and 
 vi. providing the insurance to the buyer or lessee without consideration of the buyer's or lessee's personal characteristics. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the insurance provided is a personal insurance policy. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the insurance provided is a group or fleet policy. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the insurance provided is commercial. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the item is an automobile. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the item is a construction vehicle. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the item is a commercial vehicle. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the term of the lease is short-term. 
     
     
         9 . A processor-implemented method for providing an automobile transaction incentive, comprising:
 a. receiving an indication of an automobile transaction, wherein the automobile transaction involves: selling an automobile to a buyer or leasing the automobile to a lessee and providing by a third party an automobile insurance policy for fee automobile;   b. verifying that the Model of the automobile involved in the transaction qualifies as an eligible Model for the transaction incentive, wherein the transaction incentive involves providing the automobile insurance policy to the buyer or lessee;   c. verifying that the automobile transaction occurs in a geographic region that has been designated as eligible for the transaction incentive;   d. determining via a processor an insurance premium associated with providing the automobile insurance policy to the buyer or lessee;   e. facilitating payment of the insurance premium by the third party to an insurance provider after the geographic region and automobile mobile have been verified as eligible for the transaction incentive; and   f. providing the insurance policy to the buyer or lessee without consideration of the buyer's or lessee's personal characteristics.   
     
     
         10 . The processor implemented method of  claim 9  wherein the processor is a smart phone, a laptop or a tablet. 
     
     
         11 . The processor implemented method of  claim 9  wherein the transactions are conducted over a secure network. 
     
     
         12 . The processor implemented method of  claim 9  wherein the cost of the insurance can be provided to the buyer or lessee in advance of the sale or lease of the automobile. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the automobile is new or used. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the third party is an insurance carrier or an insurance agent. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the insurance is commercial insurance. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the insurance is group or fleet insurance. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the insurance is personal insurance. 
     
     
         18 . A processor-implemented method for determining an insurance premium associated with providing insurance to a buyer or lessee of an item, comprising:
 a. receiving information over a network identifying a class of items for which insurance is to be provided to a buyer or lessee of one of the class of items by a third party entity;   b. receiving an indication over a network of a geographic region in which the buyer or lessee must reside to receive the insurance; and   c. determining via a processor a premium to be charged for an insurance policy issued to the buyer or lessee, the premium being based on the characteristics of the class of items, the anticipated demographics of the buyer or lessee and the geographic region of the transaction, without consideration of individual characteristics of the buyer or lessee and paid for by the third party entity.   
     
     
         19 . The processor implemented method of  claim 18  wherein the processor network comprises a smart phone, a laptop or a tablet. 
     
     
         20 . The processor implemented method of  claim 18  wherein the transactions are conducted over a secure network. 
     
     
         21 . The processor Implemented method of  claim 18  wherein the cost of the insurance can be provided to the buyer or lessee in advance of the sale or lease of the item. 
     
     
         22 . The processor implemented method of  claim 18  wherein the item includes a new or used automobile and a maintenance service associated with the automobile. 
     
     
         23 . The processor-implemented method of  claim 18  wherein the item may be a maritime craft, autonomous vehicle, construction apparatus, or a commercial vehicle. 
     
     
         24 . A processor-implemented method for facilitating an automobile transaction over a secure network, comprising:
 a. receiving a customer's transaction information associated with an automobile transaction,
 i. wherein the customer's transaction information includes driver's license information, and 
 ii. wherein the automobile transaction involves either the sale or lease of an automobile; 
   b. determining that the customer resides in a geographic region which is approved for a transaction incentive for a particular automobile without determining whether the customer is insurable;   c. transmitting via a processor the customer's transaction information to a third party for providing insurance to said customer without assessing the customer's insurability characteristics;   d. receiving from said third party, via a processor, insurance policy information for the customer associated with the underlying automobile transaction, wherein the insurance policy has a premium paid by the third party and determined independent of the customer's insurability characteristics; and   e. providing the insurance policy information to the customer in connection with said automobile transaction.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24  wherein the processor is connected to a network. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 24  wherein the processor is contained in a smart phone, tablet or laptop. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 24  wherein the lease is short-term. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 24  wherein the cost of the insurance policy is made known to the buyer or lessee prior to completion of the transaction. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 24  wherein the network is a secure virtual private network. 
     
     
         30 . A processor-implemented method for facilitating an automobile transaction by providing an insurance policy to a buyer or lessee of said automobile over a secure network, comprising:
 a. receiving a customer's transaction information associated with an automobile transaction,
 i. wherein the customer's transaction information includes driver's license information and payment information, 
 ii. wherein the automobile transaction is either the sale or lease of an automobile, and 
 iii. wherein said payment information is for payment for the sale or lease of the automobile and not for payment of an insurance policy for said automobile; 
   b. determining that the customer resides in a geographic region which is approved for a transaction incentive involving said automobile;   c. transmitting via a processor the customer's transaction information to a third party for providing insurance to said customer without assessing the individual driving record of said customer other than said geographic region in which said customer resides;   d. receiving from said third party, via a processor, insurance policy information for the customer associated with the underlying automobile transaction,
 i. wherein the insurance policy has a premium paid by the third party and determined independent of the customer's insurability characteristics; and 
   e. providing the insurance policy information to the customer in connection with said automobile transaction.   
     
     
         31 . The processor-implemented method of  claim 30  wherein the term of the insurance policy is equal to the term of the lease or the term of a loan associated with the sale of the automobile. 
     
     
         32 . The processor-implemented method of  claim 30  wherein the insurance policy is provided without consideration of the geographic area where the customer resides. 
     
     
         33 . The processor-implemented method of  claim 30  wherein the insurance policy information can be provided to the customer prior to entering the transaction. 
     
     
         34 . The processor-implemented method of  claim 30  wherein the transactions are accomplished using smartphones, laptops and/or tablets