IP Library Granted Patent US 8,645,193
Granted Patent B2
US 8,645,193 · App. 13/554,743 · Granted Feb 4, 2014

System and method for analysis and presentation of used vehicle pricing data

Inventors: Michael Swinson (Santa Monica, CA); Isaac Lemon Laughlin (Los Angeles, CA); Meghashyam Grama Ramanuja (North Hollywood, CA); Mikhail Semeniuk (Golden Valley, MN); Xingchu Liu (Los Angeles, CA)
Assignee: TrueCar, Inc.
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,645,193
App. No.
13/554,743
Granted
Feb 4, 2014
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems and methods for the aggregation, analysis, and display of data for used vehicles are disclosed. Historical transaction data for used vehicles may be obtained and processed to determine pricing data, where this determined pricing data may be associated with a particular configuration of a vehicle. The user can then be presented with an interface pertinent to the vehicle configuration utilizing the aggregated data set or the associated determined data where the user can make a variety of determinations. This interface may, for example, be configured to present the historical transaction data visually, with the pricing data such as a trade-in price, a list price, an expected sale price or range of sale prices, market low sale price, market average sale price, market high sale price, etc. presented relative to the historical transaction data.

Claims (47)

1. A vehicle data system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

an interface module executing on a server computer for receiving, from a user device, vehicle data associated with an individual used car;

a data gathering module for gathering historical used car data and used car transaction data on a plurality of vehicles via a network; and

a processing module configured to:

perform a back end offline processing which includes:

construct a decay curve representing residual values of the plurality of vehicles, the residual values being determined utilizing the historical used car data and the used car transaction data;

construct research datasets which include temporally-weighted historical observations, geo-specific socioeconomic data, and vehicle-specific attributes relating to the plurality of vehicles;

determine regression coefficients for a pricing model for estimating a used vehicle price for a user-specified configuration of a used vehicle;

perform a front end online processing which includes:

subsequent to receiving the vehicle data from the user device, derive regression variables utilizing the research datasets from the back end processing and the vehicle data from the user device; and

determine pricing data, the pricing data comprising an estimated used vehicle retail price for the individual used car based on the pricing model, utilizing the regression coefficients from the back end processing, the regression variables from the front end processing, and a residual value for the individual used car, the residual value for the individual used car being determined utilizing the vehicle data from the user device and the decay curve from the back end processing.

2. The vehicle data system of claim 1 , wherein the pricing model is based on a set of depreciation functions associated with particular vehicle trims.

3. The vehicle data system of claim 1 , wherein the historical used car data includes at least one of mileage, condition, vehicle attributes, vehicle options, and geographic information.

4. The vehicle data system of claim 1 , wherein the used car transaction data includes time to sell information of similar vehicles.

5. The vehicle data system of claim 1 , wherein the processing module is configured to perform clustering of vehicle models across geographic regions.

6. The vehicle data system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle data includes a year, make, model, trim, and condition of the individual used car.

7. The vehicle data system of claim 1 , wherein the pricing data includes an individual transaction price ratio normalized against a corresponding local price ratio of vehicles in a predetermined geographical area.

8. A method for pricing a used vehicle, comprising:

performing a back end offline processing by a vehicle data system running on one or more server machines residing in a network environment, wherein the back end processing includes:

constructing a decay curve representing residual values of a plurality of vehicles, the residual values being determined utilizing historical used car data and used car transaction data relating to the plurality of vehicles;

constructing research datasets which include temporally-weighted historical observations, geo-specific socioeconomic data, and vehicle-specific attributes relating to the plurality of vehicles; and

determining regression coefficients for a pricing model for estimating a used vehicle price for a user-specified configuration of a used vehicle; and

performing a front end online processing by the vehicle data system, wherein the front end processing includes:

subsequent to receiving vehicle data from a user device, deriving regression variables utilizing the research datasets from the back end processing and the vehicle data from the user device, the vehicle data being associated with an individual used car;

determining pricing data, the pricing data comprising an estimated used vehicle retail price for the individual used car based on the pricing model, utilizing the regression coefficients from the back end processing, the regression variables from the front end processing, and a residual value for the individual used car, the residual value for the individual used car being determined utilizing the vehicle data from the user device and the decay curve from the back end processing.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the pricing model is based on a set of depreciation functions associated with particular vehicle trims.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the historical used car data includes at least one of mileage, condition, vehicle attributes, vehicle options, and geographic information.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the used car transaction data includes time to sell information of similar vehicles.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the back end processing further includes clustering vehicle models across geographic regions.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the vehicle data includes a year, make, model, trim, and condition of the individual used car.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the pricing data includes an individual transaction price ratio normalized against a corresponding local price ratio of vehicles in a predetermined geographical area.

15. A computer program product having at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions executable by a vehicle data system running on one or more server machines residing in a network environment for:

performing a back end offline processing which includes:

constructing a decay curve representing residual values of a plurality of vehicles, the residual values being determined utilizing historical used car data and used car transaction data relating to the plurality of vehicles;

constructing research datasets which include temporally-weighted historical observations, geo-specific socioeconomic data, and vehicle-specific attributes relating to the plurality of vehicles; and

determining regression coefficients for a pricing model for estimating a used vehicle price for a user-specified configuration of a used vehicle; and

performing a front end online processing which includes:

subsequent to receiving vehicle data from a user device, deriving regression variables utilizing the research datasets from the back end processing and the vehicle data from the user device, the vehicle data being associated with an individual used car;

determining pricing data, the pricing data comprising an estimated used vehicle retail price for the individual used car based on the pricing model, utilizing the regression coefficients from the back end processing, the regression variables from the front end processing, and a residual value for the individual used car, the residual value for the individual used car being determined utilizing the vehicle-data from the user device and the decay curve from the back end processing.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the pricing model is based on a set of depreciation functions associated with particular vehicle trims.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the historical used car data includes at least one of mileage, condition, vehicle attributes, vehicle options, and geographic information.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the used car transaction data includes time to sell information of similar vehicles.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the back end processing further includes clustering vehicle models across geographic regions.

20. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the vehicle data includes a year, make, model, trim, and condition of the individual used car.

21. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the pricing data includes an individual transaction price ratio normalized against a corresponding local price ratio of vehicles in a predetermined geographical area.

Assignments (2)
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Feb 6, 2018
From: TRUECAR, INC.
To: SILICON VALLEY BANK
Reel/Frame 045128/0195 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 20, 2012
From: SWINSON, MICHAEL; LAUGHLIN, ISAAC LEMON; RAMANUJA, MEGHASHYAM GRAMA; SEMENIUK, MIKHAIL; LIU, XINGCHU
To: TRUECAR, INC.
Reel/Frame 028629/0763 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 61512787 · Jul 28, 2011
Related Publication 20130030870A1 · Jan 31, 2013