System and method for determining vehicle price values

Abstract

System and method for computing price values associated with vehicle history attributes including a vehicle history database with vehicle history records, a transaction database, a vehicle history knowledge determination module adapted to determine whether a sale transaction related to a transaction record occurred with buyer's knowledge of the vehicle history attributes associated with the vehicle of the transaction record and to classify each transaction record based on whether buyer possessed knowledge of the vehicle history attributes, and a price adjustment module adapted to determine price values for the vehicle history attributes based on the vehicle history datasets and classification of the plurality of transaction records. In accordance with one aspect, the present invention may be implemented as a computer readable medium with instructions.

Description

CLAIM TO PRIORITY[0001]This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 754,998 filed on Apr. 6, 2010 entitled “System And Method For Determining Vehicle Price Values”, which is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 543,918 filed on Aug. 18, 2009 entitled “System And Method For Determining Vehicle Price Adjustment Values”, which is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 721,780 filed on Nov. 26, 2003 entitled “System And Method For Determining Vehicle Price Adjustment Values”; the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in full in this document for all purposes.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention is directed to a system and method for determining price values for vehicles. In particular, the present invention is directed to such system and method in which price values for a vehicle are provided based on the veh...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]The above described vehicle valuation providers have tried to provide model level vehicle valuations which vary from vehicle to vehicle by interactively soliciting vehicle specific information from the user, and factoring the obtained vehicle specific information into the calculation of the value of the vehicle. However, the actual value of used vehicles varies based upon market conditions and vehicle attributes such as the specifications of the vehicle, vehicle condition, or other circumstances pertinent to the particular vehicle involved in the transaction which may not be known by the user. As described more fully below, the present invention provides an effective system and method for calculating price values for vehicle history attributes more accurately by utilizing empirical data to derive the price or price adjustment. Correspondingly, the present invention solves the problems of the prior art and, in particular, allows more accurate determination of the value of a particular vehicle as compared to the prior art, with minimal user input.

[0017]The disclosed system generates price values for a specific used vehicle accurately, with minimal user input.

Problems solved by technology

Until now, commercial services which offer valuations of used motor vehicles have been limited to providing generic valuations, i.e. a base price, based primarily on the make, model and year of the vehicle.

Unlike the other online vehicle pricing services, however, the Consumer Guide™ pricing report does not display specific adjustments by dollar amount or display the value of the vehicle.

Importantly, the available databases and online valuation services described above do not disclose how their pricing adjustments are derived.

For example, the above discussed online valuation services generally do not disclose how price values of a vehicle are determined for any given vehicle specific information.

Moreover, the presently available databases and online valuation services do not provide substantially automated prices or price adjustments for a used vehicle based on specific vehicle history information that relates only to the vehicle being valued.

No vehicle valuation service substantially automatically obtains the breadth of information like the vehicle history data provided in the CARFAX® database.

Therefore, there exists an unfulfilled need for a system and method for determining vehicle prices or price adjustments.

In addition, there also exists an unfulfilled need for such a system and method in which vehicle prices and price adjustments are provided based on vehicle history events.

Furthermore, there exists an unfulfilled need for a system and method in which such vehicle prices and price adjustments are substantially automatically provided to the user without requiring the consumer to provide vehicle information.

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