Insurance incentive program for promoting the purchase or release of an automobile after an expiration of a lease

1. A processor-implemented method for encouraging the purchase or re-leasing of an item after an expiration of a lease, comprising:

identifying via a processor a lease on an item, the lease having an approaching expiration date;

identifying a customer corresponding to the lease; and

offering the customer a paid insurance policy in exchange for purchasing or re-leasing the item after the expiration date.

2. A processor-implemented method for encouraging the purchase or re-leasing of an item after an expiration of a lease associated with a leased item, comprising:

retrieving an electronic record associated with the leased item that, wherein the item's lease has an approaching expiration date;

querying via a processor a customer parameter associated with the electronic record;

determining a difference between an actual residual value and a projected residual value of the leased item; and

determining an insurance premium for an insurance policy for the leased item that does not to exceed the difference between actual and projected residual values of the item; and

transmitting an offer to pay the insurance premium on behalf of the customer, if the customer purchases or re-leases the item at the expiration of the lease, wherein the insurance policy has a term that extends beyond the lease expiration date.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the item is an automobile of a particular model and the insurance policy covers comprehensive losses relating to an insurance claim related to the item or collision losses relating to the item.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

transmitting an offer to pay that involves paying a premium to an insurance provider on behalf of the customer for the insurance policy associated with the item.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the insurance policy has a maximum term of one year.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the insurance policy is provided without consideration of individual characteristics associated with the customer.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the incentive offer is transmitted to customers that qualify, wherein qualification is based on residing in a selected geographic region.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein said paying further comprises:

paying the insurance premium to an affiliate for the insurance policy.

9. The method of claim 4 , wherein the insurance is provided based on a class of the item and a qualifying geographic region, without consideration of individual characteristics associated with the customer.

10. The method of claim 4 , wherein the insurance policy covers all users of the item.

11. A processor-implemented method for providing an incentive to purchase or re-lease an automobile, comprising:

generating via a processor a listing of one or more automobile makes or models that qualify for an incentive to encourage the sale or re-lease of a qualifying automobile;

identifying at least one selected geographic region wherein it is desired to provide the incentive;

identifying one or more leased automobiles, each of said leased automobiles is one of the qualifying automobile makes or models, each of said one or more leased automobiles owned by a respective lessee in said at least one selected geographic region, and each of said one or more leased automobiles has a lease expiration date within a pre-determined incentive offer window;

calculating for each of said one or more leased automobiles a difference value comprising the difference between a projected residual value at the initiation of the lease and an actual residual value at the expiration date of the lease;

selecting an insurance policy covering a lessee for each respective one or more leased automobiles, wherein the insurance policy has a premium that is less than said difference value;

transmitting to the lessee an incentive, wherein the inventive includes an offer to pay at least a portion of the insurance premium for the selected insurance policy if the lessee purchases or re-leases the currently leased automobile upon the lease expiration date;

paying, upon the purchase or re-lease each leased automobiles by a current lessee, at least a portion of the cost of the automobile insurance policy covering said current lessee for each respective purchased or re-leased automobile; and

providing the automobile insurance policy to the current lessee for the respective purchased or re-leased automobile.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the incentive includes an offer to pay the entirety of said insurance premium or an offer to provide an additional incentive upon the purchase or re-lease of the currently leased automobile, wherein said additional incentive is selected from a group comprising: an extended warranty, a rebate on a purchase and a lowered interest rate on financing or re-lease.

13. An apparatus for providing an incentive to purchase or re-lease an automobile, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory for storing a plurality of processing instructions enabling the processor to:

determine one or more automobile makes or models that qualify for an incentive to encourage the sale or re-lease of a qualifying automobile;

identify at least one selected geographic region wherein it is desired to provide the incentive;

identify one or more leased automobiles, each of said leased automobiles is one of the qualifying automobile makes or models, each of said one or more leased automobiles owned by a respective lessee in said at least one selected geographic region, and each of said one or more leased automobiles has a lease expiration date within a pre-determined incentive offer window;

calculate for each of said one or more leased automobiles a difference value comprising the difference between a projected residual value at the initiation of the lease and an actual residual value at the expiration date of the lease;

select an insurance policy covering a lessee for each respective one or more leased automobiles, wherein the insurance policy has a premium that is less than said difference value;

transmit to the lessee an incentive, wherein the inventive includes an offer to pay at least a portion of the insurance premium for the selected insurance policy if the lessee purchases or re-leases the currently leased automobile upon the lease expiration date;

pay, upon the purchase or re-lease each leased automobiles by a current lessee, at least a portion of the cost of the automobile insurance policy covering said current lessee for each respective purchased or re-leased automobile; and

provide the automobile insurance policy to the current lessee for the respective purchased or re-leased automobile.