System and method for expediting purchase of vehicular insurance

Abstract

A mobile application for purchasing vehicular insurance without the need for manual data entry via a mobile device keyboard is disclosed. The mobile application is configured to image driver's licenses and vehicle barcodes to collect relevant driver and vehicular information. Other relevant data is either collected from correlated third-party databases or user input via voice recognition or user-friendly graphical user interface screens. Collected information is transmitted to one or more insurers and one or more quotes are displayed for consideration by the applicant. The mobile application may further comprise payment services and insurance agency point of sale services. The mobile application further provides an interactive digital insurance identification card to serve as a platform and dashboard for readily accessing services associated with the insurance policy, particularly when in an accident, when roadside services are required, and when a lower cost updated policy is available to the insured party.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A vehicular insurance point-of-sale system for a mobile user applicant comprising:
 a. a mobile device;   b. extended network architecture and infrastructure accessible by said mobile device;   c. a point-of-sale software application executable on said mobile device; and,   d. said point-of-sale software application configured to operate on said mobile device and use one or more features of said mobile device such that all input into said point-of-sale software application by a user applicant does not require the use of a keyboard interface on a screen of said mobile device.   
     
     
         2 . The vehicular point-of-sale system of  claim 1  wherein said mobile device includes one or more input modes comprising:
 a. a camera; 
 b. a scanner; 
 c. touch input; 
 d. a numeric keypad; 
 e. audio input; and, 
 f. voice recognition. 
 
     
     
         3 . The vehicular point-of-sale system of  claim 1  wherein said point-of-sale system leverages one or capabilities of said mobile device including:
 a. phone mode; 
 b. voice recorder mode; 
 c. text messaging mode; 
 d. e-mail mode; 
 e. digital camera mode; 
 f. digital video recording mode; 
 g. photograph gallery mode; 
 h. video gallery mode; and, 
 i. GPS mode. 
 
     
     
         4 . A method for expediting provision of vehicular insurance quotes to a user via a mobile device to complete an application process, comprising:
 a. downloading a point-of-sale software application and installing said POS application on said mobile device;   b. selecting and launching said point-of-sale software application;   c. a user applicant inputting login credentials and logging in to said point-of-sale software application   d. said point-of-sale software application confirming a geographic location of the user applicant;   e. entering driving information into said point-of-sale software application by imaging a driver license using a camera of said mobile device;   f. extracting and storing driver information from a scan of the driver license;   g. presenting said driver information to the user for confirmation or correction;   h. presenting an option for the user to scan additional driver's licenses;   i. repeating steps e through h until all driver's licenses have been scanned;   j. transmitting said driver information to a customer information database;   k. entering vehicular information into said point-of-sale software application by imaging a vehicle identification number using said camera of said mobile device;   l. extracting and storing said vehicular information from a scan of the vehicle identification number;   m. presenting said vehicular information to the user for confirmation or correction;   n. presenting an option for the user to image additional vehicle identification numbers;   o. repeating steps k through n until all vehicle identification numbers have been imaged;   p. transmitting said vehicular information to said customer information database;   q. confirming a garage address for each vehicle associated with a vehicle identification number;   r. checking said garage address against the user location based on geographic positioning information provided to said point-of-sale software application by said mobile device geographic positioning features;   s. if said garage address is remote from said user location, reconfirming with the user that said garage address is correct;   t. transmitting said confirmation to said customer information database;   u. sharing all customer information with one or more insurance carriers to allow generation of one or more insurance quotes for delivery and presentation to the applicant user via said point-of-sale software application on said mobile device;   v. prompting the user applicant to select a quote from a list of available quotes;   w. cancelling the application process if the user applicant does not select a quote;   x. prompting the user applicant to confirm an insurance purchase transaction for a selected quote;   y. presenting payment options to the user applicant;   z. the user applicant selecting a payment option;   aa. finalizing the insurance purchase transaction;   bb. recording data associated with said insurance purchase transaction in said point-of-sale software application; and,   cc. sending said data to said customer information database for final processing.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising the steps of:
 a. the point-of-sale software application generating a temporary digital insurance identification card to serve as temporary proof of insurance; 
 b. the insurance company issuing the quote accepted by the user applicant creating an insurance policy binding between the insurance company and the user applicant; 
 c. the insurance company authorizing the point-of-sale software application to create and display to the user applicant a permanent digital insurance identification card, confirming completion of said insurance purchase transaction and establishing a contractually-binding policy. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising the steps of:
 a. a central server in communication with said point-of-sale software application; 
 b. said central server processing said driver information and said vehicular information transmitted to said customer information database for use in digitally accessing one or more third-party data sources containing additional said driver information and said vehicular information; 
 c. said central server combining said additional driver information and said additional vehicular information from said one or more third-party sources to 
 create a user applicant risk profile for use by the insurance company in providing an insurance quote to the user applicant. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 7  wherein said one or more third-party data sources are selected from the list of:
 a. the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System; 
 b. state Department of Motor Vehicle systems; 
 c. police records; 
 d. fire and insurance records; 
 e. credit scoring entities; 
 f. vehicular data aggregators; and, 
 g. proprietary vehicular and driver data sources. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising:
 a. said point-of-sale software application displaying an icon to an applicant user; 
 b. said icon triggerable by said applicant user to directly call a data entry support person to assist in inputting all necessary information for the user by speaking with the data entry support person; 
 c. said point-of-sale software application receiving all data inputted by the data entry support person for display to the applicant user for correction and confirmation. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising the steps of:
 a. upon finalization of the insurance purchase transaction process;   b. replacing said point-of-sale software application icon displayed on a screen of said mobile device with an icon representing said permanent digital virtual insurance identification card;   c. accessing the insured user's information by selecting said icon representing said permanent digital virtual insurance identification card.   
     
     
         10 . An interactive virtual insurance identification card for display via a mobile device comprising:
 a. a digital front side;   b. said digital front side displaying static information and one or more interactive objects;   c. a digital rear side;   d. said digital rear side displaying static information and one or more interactive objects.   
     
     
         11 . The interactive insurance virtual identification card of  claim 10  wherein said interactive objects comprise:
 a. a virtual insurance identification button for causing said interactive virtual identification card display to flip from said digital front side to said digital rear side; 
 b. a hyper-linked phone number for contacting an insurance representative; 
 c. a policy icon to provide a user with access to all policy information; 
 d. an accident icon to provide a user with access to an accident interface; 
 e. a roadside assistance icon to allow a user to obtain roadside assistance via a hyperlinked telephone number and other direct digital communication features; 
 f. a dollar sign icon to allow a user to request an updated insurance quote; and, 
 g. a folder icon for accessing a data repository. 
 
     
     
         12 . The interactive virtual insurance identification card of  claim 10  wherein selecting an icon representing the interactive virtual insurance identification card triggers the deployment of a radial menu having one or more interactive objects for access by a user. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said point-of-sale software application further includes an agent version for use by an insurance agent, said agent version further comprising:
 a. an initial agent interface; 
 b. an agent login interface; 
 c. a user account driver interface; 
 d. a discount options interface; 
 e. a policy term period interface; 
 f. a cars insured interface; 
 g. a coverages interface; 
 h. an applicant quote interface; 
 i. an additional certifications form interface; 
 j. a signature interface; and, 
 k. a payment information interface.