Motor vehicle monitoring system for determining a cost of insurance

A process for acquiring and recording vehicle insurance related data during a time period via an on-board computer and recording system for adjusting an insurance cost during the time period comprising steps of:

• monitoring a plurality of data elements representative of vehicle operating states and driver actions during the time period;
• recording selected ones of the data elements in a vehicle record file of an on-board data storage device when said ones are identified as having a relationship material to determination of the insurance cost;
• identifying whether said selected ones comprise a trigger event, and if so identified, communicating information representative of the trigger event to a central control station for storage in a trigger event file;
• and,
• consolidating said vehicle record file and said trigger event file in a form for determining a vehicle cost of insurance for the time period.

A system of determining a cost of automobile insurance for a selected time period based upon monitoring, recording and communicating data representative of operator and vehicle driving characteristics, whereby the cost is adjustable by relating the driving characteristics to predetermined safety standards, the system comprising:

• means for predetermining an insured profile and a base cost of automobile insurance based on said insured profile;
• means for monitoring a plurality of data elements representative of an operating state of a vehicle or an action of the operator during the selected time period;
• means for recording selected ones of the plurality of data elements when said ones are determined to have a preselected relationship to the safety standards;
• means for consolidating said selected ones for identifying a surcharge or discount to be applied to the base cost;
• and,
• means for producing a final cost for the selected time period from the base cost and the surcharge or discount.

A method of generating an actuarial class system for determining vehicle insurance costs for adjusting premiums for an insurance period of time based on data derived from motor vehicle operational characteristics and driver behavior during said insurance period of time, comprising:

• monitoring a plurality of data elements representing vehicle operating states and driver actions during said insurance period of time;
• recording selected ones of the data elements in a vehicle record file when said ones are identified as having a relationship material to determination of a cost of insurance;
• setting a plurality of actuarial classes associated with corresponding degrees of safety of operation of the vehicle;
• and,
• consolidating said vehicle record files with selected actuarial classes for determining a corresponding cost of insurance for the vehicle in correspondence with a one of the actuarial classes for the insurance period of time.

An integrated system for extracting data from multiple sensors, and screening, aggregating and applying the data for insurance rating purposes, the data being generated by an actual operation of a specific motor vehicle during a selected data collection period comprising:

• means for extracting a plurality of data elements from the multiple sensors wherein the elements are representative of vehicle operating states and driver actions during the selected data collection period;
• means for screening the data elements and aggregating selected ones of the data elements in a vehicle record file of an on-board storage device when said selected ones are identified as having a relationship material to determination of a cost of insurance for the vehicle;
• means for associating the aggregated selected data elements with predetermined actuarial classes indicative of a degree of safety of operation of the vehicle;
• and
• means for producing a cost of insurance for the selected data collection period.