System and Method for Categorizing Driving Behavior Using Driver Mentoring and/or Monitoring Equipment to Determine an Underwriting Risk
Assigneeinthinc Technology Solutions, Inc.
InventorsScott McClellan, Todd Follmer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
System and method for monitoring and mentoring driver behavior and vehicle operation and for categorizing or grading a driver's performance. The driver's classification or grade is used to determine or adjust insurance rates, premiums or coverages for the driver. The driver may receive discounted insurance rates for using monitoring and/or mentoring equipment in the vehicle. Insurance companies may use the driver classifications or grades to bid for coverage of groups of drivers having similar classifications or grades.
Claims35
A method for determining the cost of vehicle insurance, comprising:
- determining an initial base cost of vehicle insurance based upon a profile of an insured driver of a vehicle;
- and
- providing a discount to the initial base cost of the vehicle insurance upon the condition that mentoring equipment is installed in the vehicle.
A method of categorizing driving behavior for insurance purposes, comprising:
- providing vehicle monitoring equipment for a plurality of vehicles, wherein the vehicle monitoring equipment monitors vehicle operation parameters and evaluates the vehicle operation parameters against preset thresholds to provide a driver rating;
- correlating groups of individual drivers into categories based upon driver ratings collected from a plurality of drivers;
- and
- providing information about drivers from one or more of the categories to one or more insurance companies.
A method for providing driver data to insurance companies, comprising:
- monitoring a driver's behavior using a vehicle monitoring system that provides warnings to the driver when vehicle operation parameters exceed preset thresholds;
- assigning a grade to the driver's driving performance;
- and
- providing the driver's grade to one or more insurance companies.
A method of determining a cost of automobile insurance for a selected period based upon monitoring, recording and communicating data representative of operator and vehicle driving characteristics during said period, whereby the cost is adjustable by relating the driving characteristics to predetermined safety standards, the method comprising:
- determining an initial insured profile and a base cost of automobile insurance based on said insured profile;
- monitoring a plurality of data elements representative of an operating state of a vehicle or an action of the operator during the selected period;
- mentoring the operator based upon one or more of the plurality of data elements;
- recording selected ones of the plurality of data elements when said ones are determined to have a preselected relationship to the safety standards;
- consolidating said selected ones for identifying a surcharge or discount to be applied to the base cost;
- and
- producing a final cost of automobile insurance for the selected period from the base cost and the surcharge or discount.
A method of generating a database comprising data elements representative of operator or vehicle driving characteristics, the method comprising:
- monitoring a plurality of the data elements representative of an operating state of a vehicle or an action of the operator during a selected time period;
- mentoring the operator based upon one or more of the plurality of data elements;
- and
- recording selected ones of the plurality of data elements into the database when said ones are determined to be appropriate for recording relative to determining a cost of insurance for the vehicle during the selected time period, said ones including, a time and location of vehicle operation and a corresponding log of vehicle speed for the time and location.
A method of insuring a vehicle operator for a selected period based upon operator driving characteristics during the period, comprising:
- generating an initial operator profile;
- monitoring the operator driving characteristics during the selected period;
- mentoring the operator based upon one or more of the driving characteristics;
- and
- deciding a cost of vehicle insurance for the period based upon the operator driving characteristics monitored in that period.
A method for determining the cost of vehicle insurance, comprising:
- monitoring vehicle operation parameters during a use of the vehicle;
- and
- evaluating the vehicle operation parameters against preset thresholds to decide a cost of vehicle insurance for that use.
A method of determining a cost of vehicle insurance based upon driving performance during an evaluation period, comprising:
- providing vehicle monitoring equipment to a driver, wherein the vehicle monitoring equipment monitors vehicle operation parameters and evaluates the vehicle operation parameters against preset thresholds to provide a driver rating for the evaluation period;
- and
- deciding a cost of vehicle insurance for a future period based upon the driver rating for the evaluation period.
A method of insuring a vehicle operator for a future period based upon operator driving characteristics during an evaluation period, comprising:
- monitoring operator driving characteristics during the evaluation period;
- and
- deciding a cost of vehicle insurance for the future period based upon the operator driving characteristics monitored in the evaluation period.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.