NZ532457A - Leads generation system - Google Patents

Abstract

A leads generation system comprises a computer arranged to receive input from a system user that contains a vehicle identifier selected from a vehicle's current plate number or a vehicle identification number (VIN). The system is programmed to use the vehicle identifier as a key to search at least one database of vehicle data to obtain details of a first vehicle to which the vehicle identifier relates to. The system is also programmed to use some portion of the first vehicle details as a key to search a data source containing details of vehicles for sale to obtain details of one or more vehicles for sale that are similar to the first vehicle. The system is also programmed to send a message containing the details of the vehicle for sale to the system user.

Description

5324 5 7 Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand Te Pou Rahui Hanga Hou PATENTS FORM NO. 5 Patents Act 1953 No... Date: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (6) t^ADS ...5^5.^6 (A;! , I (er WCt.

Oi/aj \ it. i,r>c vr\ i \ (X- A )C=r i ^ i AjU X.i v /) "> hereby declare the invention, for which I (or we) pray that a patent may be granted to me^ef-us), and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement (a) Where priority as provided by subsection (2) or subsection (3) of section 11 of the Patents Act 1953 is desired in respect of one or more provisional specifications, quote number or numbers and date or dates (b) Insert title of invention (c) State (in full) name, address, and nationality of applicant or applicants as in application form (d) Here begin full description of invention. The continuation of the specification should be upon paper of the same size as this form, on one side only, with the lines well spaced and with a margin of 2.5 cm on the left hand part of the paper.

The completion of the description should be followed by the words "What I (or we) claim is" after which should be written the claim or claims numbered consecutively. (See note below.) The specification and the duplicate thereof must be signed at the end NOTE.~The claims must relate to a single invention, must be clear and succinct, and must be fairly based on the matter disclosed in the specification. They should form in brief a clear statement of that which constitutes the invention. Applicants should be careful that their claims include neither more nor less than they desire to protect by their patent. Any unnecessary multiplicity of claims or prolixity of language should be avoided. Claims should not be made for the efficiency or advantages of the invention.

Intellectual Property Office of NZ 2 1 APR 200*1 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION NZ532457 Dated 14 September 2006 We, PATENT HOLDINGS LIMITED a New Zealand company of PC) Box 37040, Pamell, Auckland, 5 New Zealand, do hereby declare to be the first and true inventor of the invention for which I pray that a patent of addition may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement.

TITLE OF THE INVENTION LEADS GENERATION SYSTEM CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS New Zealand patent application No. 299611 filed 18/03/97 New Zealand provisional patent application No. 512552 filed 06/25/2001 FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention (hereafter referred to as the 'system'), relates in general to computer, network & database systems used by organisations to process government registry transactions for motor vehicles, and to locate 20 and purchase motor vehicle related products and services.

Each year in New Zealand over $1 billion of government related vehicle transactions are performed. These transactions take place as a matter of law, or well-established business practice. Most of these transactions are paper based and inefficient and have created "gaps" in the system, which some parties have used to 25 avoid or delay their legal and/or moral obligations. The automotive industry and the Government want to automate these processes to: • reduce the costs & effort of compliance, • increase the accuracy of transactions & data, • "tighten up" vehicle trading to improve vehicle & road safety. • collect missing government revenues, • facilitate the collection, and generation of new revenues, • improve customer service and competitive position • provide enhanced consumer protection It would be particularly desirable to provide a computer hardware and software based system which allows these transactions to be performed electronically. The system would incorporate many features which 1 IPONZ 1 4 SEP 2006 minimise user effort, and improve accuracy, and also introduces many of the "checks & balances" presently missing in the industry by automatically cross checking & directing system users to perform the required transactions.

In addition to just performing electronic government transactions, the system could be enhanced to act as a "one-stop-shop" of other essential information to enhance customer service, improve competitive position, and generate additional sales revenues for organisations such as: • The Public etc.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an improved or at least alternative computer based method and system to locate and purchase motor vehicles and their related products and services.

In broad terms the invention comprises a leads generation system for compiling from different data sources information relating to motor vehicles and receiving and responding to enquiries from remote system users, 30 comprising a central computer forming a system server electronically accessible by remote system users and storing a number of vehicle records each comprising information relating to a vehicle, and programmed to receive vehicle enquiries from system users including vehicle identification data, and responsive to such user enquiries with information relating to the vehicle to which the identification data relates, and programmed to compile and/or update the information in the central server vehicle records on receipt of a 35 user enquiry or otherwise, by obtaining vehicle information from at least one remote government stored Automobile Dealerships Vehicle Manufacturers Boat Brokers Auction Companies Motorcycle Dealers Finance, Insurance, & Leasing Companies Service Stations, Vehicle Testing & Repair Centres Local Government Authorities Automotive Industry Associations Auto Wreckers & Panel Beaters Enforcement Authorities (eg. Customs & Police) Government Agents 2 IPONZ t 4 SEP 2006 database of vehicle data for a plurality of vehicles and by also obtaining information from one or more other remote stored data sources.

In broad terms the invention also comprises a method of compiling from different data sources information 5 relating to motor vehicles and receiving and responding to enquiries from remote system users, comprising providing a central computer forming a system server which is electronically accessible by remote system users and storing a number of vehicle records each comprising information relating to a vehicle in said system server, receiving in said system server vehicle enquiries from system users including vehicle identification data, and responding to such user enquiries with information relating to the vehicle to which 10 the identification data relates, and compiling and/or updating the information in the central server vehicle records on receipt of a user enquiry or otherwise by obtaining vehicle information from at least one remote government stored database of vehicle data for a multiple number of vehicles and by also obtaining information from one or more other remote stored data sources.

DEFINITIONS Certain terminology is used herein for convenience only and is not to be taken as a limitation on the invention.

MVR - Motor Vehicle Registry, often a public registry run by the government which contains the relationship between vehicles, owners, and registration status. The data contained in this registry is unique in that it is deemed to be the authoritative source of legally valid information. In New Zealand this registry is run by the Land Transport Safety Authority (LTSA) and is also called LANDATA.

Liens (securities) Registry - This is often a public registry run by the government which contains the relationship between vehicles, owners, and security interests. The data contained in this registry is unique in that it is deemed to be the authoritative source of legally valid liens(securities) information. In New Zealand this registry is called the Motor Vehicle Securities Registry (MVSR) and the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR).

PPSR - This is a registry which contains information about liens and securities registered against any private property such as vehicles, boats, household appliances, etc.

VIN - Vehicle Identification Number is an identifier or serial number which is unique to a vehicle. 3 IPONZ 14 SEP 2006 RUC - Road User Certificate is the term used in New Zealand, but the term is to generally refer to a certificate stating a diesel vehicle has pre-paid its road tax.

COF - Certificate of Fitness is the term used in New Zealand, but the term is to generally refer to a 5 certificate stating a commercial vehicle has passed a safety inspection.

WOF - Warrant of Fitness is the term used in New Zealand, but the term is to generally refer to a certificate stating a domestic vehicle has passed a safety inspection.

In Australia, the National Exchange of Vehicle and Driver Information System (NEVDIS) provides each registry with real time on-line access to all other registries' vehicle and driver license databases, and nationally compatible written-off vehicle registers (WOVR) may record the details of all written-off vehicles.

The Australian police service's National Vehicles of Interest (NVOI) database which provides police with a national database of stolen vehicle details, has also been linked to NEVDIS to provide registration officers with on-line access to current stolen vehicle records.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES The system and method of the invention are further described with reference to the accompanying drawings which show a preferred form of the invention by way of example and without intending to be limiting, in which: (a) Figure 1 illustrates the various flows of information between; the system, the system users, the 25 public, and other data sources. (b) Figure 2 shows the system's ability to generate leads for other products and services based upon the contents of the vehicle query results. (c) Figure 3 is a block diagram of the overall system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED FORM The preferred form of system comprises a central server comprising memory and operating under the control of application software. The computer system may have the instructions for operating the computer system encoded as at least one computer program on a computer-readable medium encoded with a 35 computer program, wherein the computer program defines structural and functional interrelationships 4 IPONZ 14 SEP 2006 between the computer program and the medium which permit the computer program's functionality to be realised.

The computer readable medium may include, but not be limited, to optical or magnetic storage media such 5 as a hard drive or CD-ROM.

The application software functions interactively permitting exchange of information within the system. The application software may process information using one or more processors , which may be linked by structured communications channels or unstructured communications channels such as the internet. In 10 particular, distributed processing of information using multiple processors such as the processors of computers associated with system users running client software is considered to be within the scope of the invention.

Similarly, the server may include many disparate information storage media which may be linked to the 15 system by structured communications channels or unstructured communications channels such as the internet or wireless links.

Users may communicate with the server using a PC such as indicated at over an Internet connection or other communications channel. Users PCs may be loaded with common software such as HTML or JAVA 20 and the Internet connection may be either dial-up or dedicated. A user may use an equivalent Internet appliance instead of a personal computer. Other equivalent devices may include but not be limited to, for example, phones, facsimile machines, laptop computers, notebook computers, palmtop computers (PALM PILOT), scanners, cameras, modems, communication access, personal computers (PC), PC terminals (NET PC), and network computers (NC). A user may also be another computer or software program 25 which makes queries and conducts transactions with the system electronically without direct human involvement. A firewall may be interposed between the user PCs and the server for security purposes.

Users may also communicate with the server through a call centre using a fax or telephone. A call centre operator accesses the server using Internet terminals. Information is then conveyed to the user by voice or 30 fax. The system may provide 0800 and 0900 services, voice and text recognition and/or IVR technology.

Alternatively, users may communicate with the server using a radio paging service, electronic data interchange (EDI) or e-mail facilities (not shown).

Information may be transferred between server and PC by, for example, via part of a structured communications network or unstructured communications network such as the Internet or a wide area IPONZ I 4 SEP 2006 network, and includes Internet type connections, telecommunication (telephone, ISDN, ADSL), VSAT short message service (SMS) enabled, satellite, WAP-enabled devices, and other wire and wireless transmission. Furthermore, data maybe transferred via other distribution channels such as computer networks, on-line systems, cable television, and broadcast television computer networks, distributed 5 physical storage media including CD-ROMs, on-line systems, cable television, and broadcast television.

The server communicates with a number of data sources. These data sources include private and government data stored on, for example, CD-ROM, floppy disks or tapes, Internet web sites, databases and computer servers. These data sources may be accessed by dedicated and dial-up telecommunications 10 facilities using e-mail, electronic data interchange (EDI) and/or communications via Internet web sites. The data sources may also be stored locally on CD-ROMs, floppy disks or other digital storage media.

Alternatively, the user may be provided with terminal emulation or Telnet facilities to directly access data sources.

Where necessary, the system converts or translates information from one format to another so that information can be collected and distributed using various communications protocols and devices most appropriate to system users and information suppliers. Translations and conversions supported include: • EDI & XML to electronic mail and vice versa, • Electronic mail to facsimile and vice versa, • EDI & XML to facsimile and vice versa.

The system may either communicate with the server in real time or alternatively may extract information in 25 batch mode, or from a web site or other intermediary delivery mechanism.

Common Key A system user supplies a vehicle identification means comprising one or more of the following pieces of data; • the registration/plate number of a vehicle, • the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) of a vehicle, • the chassis number of a vehicle, • the details of a vehicle owner, • some other unique identifier of a vehicle or vehicle owner. 6 IPONZ H SEP 2006 This is used as the key(s) to extract relevant pieces of information about the specific vehicle (or owner) from various public and private data sources. These data sources include government databases such as Motor Vehicle Registries (MVR) & Motor Vehicle Securities Registries (MVSR), a Private Property Securities Registry (PPSR), Internet web sites, CD-ROMs, vehicle valuations etc. For example, the vehicle 5 identification means may be used as a common key to extract vehicle liens and securities information from the MVSR and/or PPSR databases, and to extract vehicle description and ownership information from the MVR database.

Link Data The system is also capable of using data extracted from one database as a key to look-up and extract data from (or submit data to) one or more other data sources, web sites etc.

For example, the vehicle owner details obtained from the Government's MVR database may be used to access and extract relevant information about the owner from a police database and a drivers license 15 database. Whereas the MVR's vehicle description (make model & year) will be used as a key to extract vehicle valuation data from another database (such as that provided by Dealer's Guide). The vehicle description may also be used to extract specifications and an image of the vehicle from another database, CD-ROM, or other data source.

Another example, the system may submit the system user's search VIN, and/or search chassis #, and/or search plate number to obtain relevant vehicle data from the MVR (LTSA) registry database. Then the system takes the search VIN, the search plate, and the vehicles past plate #'s (plate history) returned from the MVR (LTSA), and the VIN returned from the MVR (LTSA), and using all those identifiers checks against the liens registry (MVSR and/or PPSR). In this way all liens or securities which may have been 25 lodged against a vehicle under past and present plates are obtained. This is done since a vehicle may have had its VIN incorrectly entered by the system user, or the VIN in the MVSR and/or PPSR is incorrectly recorded, or the plate entered by the system user is new to the vehicle and has not been linked to the vehicle in the liens registry (MVSR and/or PPSR).

Other possible search keys and the possible information returned from other data sources may be processed, combined, cross checked, verified, analysed and the results distributed to system users, the public, or data suppliers using on-line, fax, phone, pager, or e-mail methods etc. Figure 1 shows primary search keys (user entered search criteria), and secondary keys (search criteria obtained from the primary search). Some specific examples of the information accessed by the system are; vehicle information 35 collected during the process of offering a vehicle for sale at an auction (eg. condition, mileage, sale price); vehicle information collected during the importing or exporting of a vehicle (eg. customs data on condition, 7 IPONZ 1 4 SEP 2006 country of origin, mileage, condition); vehicle information collected by insurance companies as a result of issuing insurance cover or processing an insurance claim (eg. damage and repair histories and costs); vehicle information collected or held by law enforcement agencies (eg. stolen status, vehicle owner's drivers license status, outstanding fines and tickets), vehicle information collected by overseas auction companies 5 (eg. vehicle condition, mileage).

The computer system is adapted to perform batch queries to the government databases to update details in the database of vehicle details that may be accessed by system users to thereby maintain the integrity of information in the database of vehicle details.

Combine Data - Vehicle Query Screen & Vehicle Information Report (VIR) The system combines and stores the various data as a new database record in the system. The data can then be displayed on-line as a 'Vehicle Query Screen', and/or produced as a document called a 'VIR' (Figure 3 -18). The Vehicle Query Screen and the VIR each contain some or all of the following; a physical description of the vehicle, details of the vehicle owner(s) past & present, the vehicle owner's drivers license details, any liens/securities associated with the vehicle, the insurance status of the vehicle, the vehicle odometer reading & verification, the vehicle's registration, licensing, and safety inspection status, specific (& related) vehicle market valuations, an image or representative graphic of the vehicle, the mechanical condition and/or repair history of the vehicle, miscellaneous notes about the owner and/or vehicle, police status of the vehicle and/or its owner, parking tickets associated with the vehicle, road user charges or outstanding road tariffs associated with the vehicle, insurance coverage on the vehicle.

The 'Vehicle Query Screen' and 'VIR' (Figure 3-18) may be used by car dealerships, vehicle auctioneers, insurance and finance and leasing companies for example, to confirm the integrity of any vehicle they deal with. For example, car dealerships may generate a VIR for every trade-in vehicle considered, and issue a current VIR for every vehicle they sell to a customer. Likewise, before financing, insuring or leasing a vehicle, a VIR would be generated and filed with the policy. VIRs can be requested by the Police on 8 IPONZ 1 4 SEP 2006 vehicles of interest, or by service stations and testing stations as part of their inspection & repair procedures. Vehicle auctioneers would also generate a VIR to confirm the status of each vehicle they sell to their buyers.

The VIR would give businesses and the public greater confidence in the vehicles they purchase, insure or finance etc. The intent is to have the VIR become an industry standard document which functions much like a LIM (Land Information Memorandum) does in the real estate industry. The VIR would become a common document which is either required by law, or requested as part of good business practice.

Analyse Data The system may then analyse and 'cross-check' information it holds on a vehicle, vehicle owner, system user etc. (indicated at Figure 3 - 20) in real time to identify instances of data discrepancies, alerts, errors, outstanding fees owing, or missing data for example: • checking that the vehicle owner and vehicle description information obtained from the two 15 Government databases (MVSR and/or PPSR & MVR) are consistent., • checking of odometer readings from various sources to identify any potential wind-backs (eg. comparing the mileage readings and the associated dates to see if a lower mileage reading was recorded at a later date). • identifying multiple liens or securities against a single vehicle by checking any liens which may 20 exist against plates previously registered to a vehicle. • identifying out of date, duplicate, or invalid vehicle liens associated with the vehicle. This is done by comparing the lien registration dates with the current date, and/or by checking to see if the lien registration date + the term of the loan results in a date which has passed making the lien effectively expired. Also by checking that the description of the lien vehicle matches the description of the vehicle obtained from the MVR database. Also be ensuring the vehicle is still exists according to the MVR database. • identify and advise of any expired or cancelled licenses, registrations, certificates, or other legal requirements. This will also check to see if expirations are about to occur within a pre-set time. • identify and advise of an expired (or soon to expire) Road User Certificate by comparing the 30 certificates expiry date (or expiry mileage) with the current date, previous odometer readings, or present odometer reading.

• Using the VIN numbering standard to verify a vehicles VIN number matches the vehicle type. • identifying if the vehicle insurance coverage has expired, or is about to expire within a given period. • identifying whether the vehicle has been reported stolen or of interest to a third party selected from 35 the group police, an insurance company, a finance company, customs, or a private investigator; • identifying if the vehicles registration has expired, or is about to expire within a given period. 9 IPONZ 14 SEP 2006 • Identifying if a vehicle has ever been deregistered for any period of time in its past. Thereby raising suspicion that the vehicle may have once been badly damaged or written off. • identify any relevant notes in the systems database which match the vehicles past or present plates and/or VINs. • verifying that the date of birth and full name of past and present owners matches the date of birth and full name of debtors on securities Any of the above occurrences will be detailed & flagged within the system and the system may generate (and deliver) a related discrepancy or alert report (Figure 3-22).

Alert Descriptions, Causes, and Recommended Actions Each of the alert or discrepancy messages generated by the system and/or displayed in the Vehicle Information Report can have a hyperlink to a full description of the message, an explanation of the likely causes of the message, and recommended actions to take to rectify the situation. This information can be delivered on-line within a separate browser window, or can be included as part of the Vehicle Information 15 Report itself.

Link Transactions Based upon the analysis of the information held by the system, the system may be arranged with a compliance means to identify what further data needs to be collected, and therefore what other transactions 20 need to be performed to ensure; the vehicle itself, the sale or purchase of the vehicle, and/or the insuring or financing of the vehicle, etc. complies with regulations or good business practice. The system then prompts the user to perform the required transactions or, automatically display the relevant transaction screen(s), in a logical order.

The order of transactions will depend upon the type of system user (determined by the user's PIN) and the activities being performed. For example, if a vehicle is to be sold to a member of the public and the vehicle's registration, safety inspection, license or other certification has expired, then the user will be directed to complete these transactions before the sale and 'Change of Ownership' can be finalised. This in turn may be followed by a suggestion to perform a 'Vehicle Insurance' transaction. Whereas if another car 30 dealer is purchasing a vehicle, inspection and insurance transactions are unnecessary and would not automatically appear.

Some of the other 'checks & balances' performed by the system are; • ensure a valid WOF, registration, and paid up license before selling a vehicle to a member of the 35 public. • no WOF, license etc. if car is de-registered.

IPONZ 1 4 SEP 2006 • verify a vehicle buyers ID and ensure a valid drivers license before performing a change of ownership etc. • check for outstanding parking tickets, unpaid registrations (from continuous licensing) etc. before performing a change of ownership. • ensure a 'written off vehicle is de-registered before it is sold • no insurance without a vehicle valuation check and drivers license status check. • check for insurance coverage on a vehicle when processing damage claims. • no financing processed without a vehicle valuation check, credit check, verification of valid registration, and liens or securities check. • ensure the vehicle is insured before processing finance. • ensure the vehicle remains insured and registered while it is under finance. • check VIN for accuracy against vehicle description and/or manufacturer's lists. • unpaid vehicle licenses are paid before change of ownership. • compare and correct vehicle descriptions and vehicle ownerships between government registries like 15 the MVR and MVSR and/or PPSR. • check for a valid RUC license for diesel vehicles before a sale. • alert finance companies (or other lien holders) to clear/modify a vehicle's title when the vehicle has been sold and money collected.

To accomplish this, the system may be arranged to conduct real time & batch processing, document printing, billing and collecting of fees, for the following motor vehicle related transactions; initial vehicle registration, re-licensing of vehicles and drivers changing vehicle ownership details, • vehicle safety inspections, 'certificates & warrants of fitness' registration, amendments and cancellation of vehicle liens/securities, renewal & issue of Road User Certificates & Road User Charges, collection of miscellaneous notes relating to the vehicle and/or vehicle owner, customs, duty & excise transactions, • processing & renewal of drivers licenses, paying of traffic & parking violations.

The system may also be provided with action means providing a facility for canying out the required actions identified by the compliance means. Such action means may include facilities to process vehicle 35 registration, licensing, and inspection transactions (eg, WOF's, RUC's, registrations, COF's), process 11 IPONZ H SEP 2006 vehicle securities (eg, add, change and delete liens), and recommend and perform transactions such as arranging vehicle finance, insurance and/or vehicle extended warrantees. These actions may be conducted electronically.

In a preferred form the action means submits data already available to or known by the system to reduce manual data entry.

Transfer Data The system may make use of Internet IP addresses, CLID, and/or PINs to identify a system user and 10 confirm their right to use the system. The system may then extract relevant details about the user from various databases (including its own database of user profiles) and will automatically transfer/copy this information to other transactions the user may wish to perform. Similarly the details of a vehicle and/or its owner etc. may be transferred automatically to the appropriate parts of other transactions. Automatic data transferring will be used throughout the system to reduce the errors & effort associated with manual entry 15 of data by a person.

For example, during the purchase of a trade-in vehicle by a Car Dealer, the details of the vehicle and the seller (previous owner) would come from the 'Vehicle Queiy' results. While the details of the buyer (car dealer) would come from the system. This data would then be inserted automatically into the appropriate 20 fields of a 'Change of Ownership' transaction.

Another example would be to take the agreed purchase price of a vehicle from a sale & purchase agreement, and us it to update the system's vehicle valuation database while also copying the sale price to a finance application also performed using the system.

Reports Data stored within the system can be formed into reports (Figure 3 - 24), all of which can be displayed online, printed on paper, or transmitted electronically via e-mail, fax, or a direct data link to deliver information to system users. Some of these reports include: • A Vehicle Information Report [VIR ] (Figure 3-18) showing one or more of the following; securities or interests on the vehicle, date of birth of debtor, full name of debtor, vehicle description, the plate on the vehicle at time of security registration, vin , chassis, vehicle description, past plates and present plates, full names of past and present owners, date of birth of present owner, vehicle valuation, vehicle insurance details, vehicle damage or repair history, outstanding fines, physical 35 location of vehicle, customs data, overseas registry information, police and law enforcement information, vehicle manufacturer information, ownership, registration status, liens status, police 12 IPONZ H SEP 2006 status, market value, mileage, damage and repair history, alert messages and notes of interest, road user charges or outstanding road tariffs associated with the vehicle, insurance coverage on the vehicle, or consumer rights etc. for a particular registered vehicle.

• A 'Window Card' (Figure 3 - 18a) showing a subset of the information provided in a VIR (Figure 3 5 - 18), but containing the logo of the dealer, the sale price of the vehicle, and even customised disclaimers or guarantees used by the dealer.

• A 'Discrepancy Report' (Figure 3 - 22) detailing any data inconsistencies between information sources. This report may be generated automatically by the system and sent to the appropriate parties at scheduled times for further action, "eg. mismatched plate/VIN/owner between Government registries, multiple liens on the same vehicle but under different plates.

• A 'Vehicle Search Report' listing descriptions, locations & prices for specific vehicles for sale • Billing reports outlining the number, type, and time of transactions performed by each system user.

• Statistics reports showing vehicle price trends, number of vehicles registered per year etc.

• A 'Change of Ownership Report' for vehicles with liens registered against them.

• Marketing reports showing, sales by Dealership, customer sales anniversary dates, etc.

• A 'Vehicle Market Values Report' showing sales prices for various vehicle models.

• An 'Alert Report' showing possible odometer wind-backs, expired licenses or registrations, vehicle de-registration, damage & repair history, plate changes, ownership changes, stolen status, vehicle notes etc.

• A Police Book report showing vehicle sales that have taken place between registered vehicle traders and licensed motor vehicle dealers or the present location of a particular vehicle within the dealer network; • A Sale & Purchase agreement showing all legally required information.

• A 'Security Holders Report' which highlights vehicles which have securities against them but the vehicle has recently changed ownership, and/or the vehicles registration is about to expire, and/or the vehicle has multiple securities registered, or the vehicle has old or suspect liens registered, or where a particular Creditor does not hold the priority interest.

• An outstanding charges report which uses know information and user information to calculate and display any government fees, fines etc. which may be due. This would include using the expiry date of the last license, the expiry date (or mileage) of the Road User Certificate (diesel usage tax), and comparing these with the present date and the vehicles present mileage, and using the vehicles description, weight, classification, and usage to calculate outstanding fees due. This could also include using the vehicle owners name (and/or drivers license number) to determine if any traffic fines are outstanding. This information can be determined and displayed in real time to the system user at the same time that the VIR is displayed. 13 IPONZ H SEP 2006 Stock Location Service ("Motor-Match") Vehicle dealers are constantly looking for good vehicles to stock their yards, and often turn to other dealers, trade-ins, importers, and vehicle auctions. However the increasing popularity of public vehicle fairs with 5 their wider selection of vehicles, pose new competitive pressures upon car dealers. Therefore the location of good stock is becoming increasingly important for dealers.

When a customer wants a particular vehicle model, a dealer may phone a handful of other dealers to locate a car. This is a time consuming and often unsuccessful exercise. The system may have the facility to 10 streamline this process by providing a stock database (Figure 3 - 26) called 'Motor-Match' for dealers to buy & sell vehicles with each other in New Zealand and overseas. Dealers are then able to quickly locate specific vehicles for themselves or their customers by searching the database using criteria such as; the physical vehicle description, the location, and/or the price of a vehicle. This will also reduce the auction & car transport costs for dealers since unwanted trade-ins can be directly traded with other dealers.

Dealers have the opportunity to register an interest in particular vehicles. The system may then periodically search the database for a period of time specified by the dealer and automatically notify the dealer when a vehicle(s) is located that matches the criteria. The notification will take place either by fax, e-mail, pager, direct data facility, or human operator. The Motor-Match database may be linked to other 20 third party vehicle location services or databases, for example Japanese vehicle auction companies. This will allow system users to locate, search or advertise vehicles on other systems.

Automatic Database Updating Although vehicles can be manually added and deleted from the Motor-Match database, the system can also 25 virtually eliminate this effort for car dealers. This makes the database more accurate and very simple to use. This may be accomplished by providing a stock database updating means automatically adding (or deleting) vehicles to the database whenever the System is used to perform a government 'Change of Ownership' transaction, and/or a sale and purchase agreement. When a Dealer purchases a vehicle, it can be added to the stock database as a 'vehicle for sale'. Conversely, when a dealer sells a vehicle to the 30 public, the system will automatically delete the vehicle from the stock database. The system will automatically know when a dealer is a seller or a buyer by matching ownership details with a list of known Licensed Motor Vehicle Dealers. 14 IPONZ H SEP 2006 Database Partitions The Motor-Match database may be partitioned and records stored so that dealers can advertise vehicles to several audiences such as; everyone (public), only registered system users (System), only related dealerships (Franchise), or only for themselves to see (Private). The ability to store information privately 5 means Motor-Match can be used by dealers as a internal system for tracking their own confidential vehicle inventories.

Customer Database The system may also be provided with a customer database (Figure 3 - 28). The customer database 10 operates in a similar manner to the Motor-Match database except it contains records relating to a dealer's customers. Although a dealer can populate and update the database manually, the system is designed to automatically add new customers whenever a dealer performs a 'Change of Ownership' to sell a vehicle to a member of the public, or perform an electronic commerce transaction, or a sale and purchase agreement. However, unlike the Motor-Match database, customer records are not automatically deleted, and customer 15 database records are entered in a private partition as a default.

A dealer can manually search this database by vehicle and/or a person's name. The system can automatically generate reports such as, showing the approaching sales anniversary dates for a dealer's customers, making the database very useful for marketing purposes. The system will also be able to 20 extract the sales prices for various vehicles to generate reports showing approximate market values for various vehicle models and years. This market valuation information will in turn be referenced when the system performs a vehicle query transaction or generates a VIR.

Police Book Database A 'police book' is required by law in some countries as a record of who owns a vehicle when the vehicle's change of ownership is not recorded in a central government registry. A police book must be kept by all dealers when they buy/sell a vehicle from/to another dealer. This book can then be viewed by law enforcement agencies to determine the ownership of a vehicle at a particular point in time. Since the system is designed to facilitate legal compliance, the system may also be incorporate a police book database 30 (Figure 3 - 28a). Although a dealer can populate and update the database manually, the system is designed to automatically and accurately add a transaction record whenever a dealer buys or sells a vehicle to another dealer. However, unlike the Motor-Match database, police book records are never deleted since they are to function as an on-going history of vehicle movements.

A dealer or law enforcement officer can manually search this database on-line by vehicle, an owners name, and/or by vehicle description, or identifier. The system can also generate police book summary reports.

IPONZ 14 SEP 2006 Vehicle Notes Database Facility The system provides the ability for a system user to submit information about a vehicle which will be captured and stored in the system for viewing by specific parties (system users and/or the public). 5 Information will be stored and retrieved using a unique vehicle identifier such as plate number, VIN or chassis number. The type of information collected in this manner may include vehicle photographs, damage & repair details, vehicle condition, addition or removal of accessories, odometer readings, and any other miscellaneous information deemed of value. This facility would be used by insurance companies, mechanics and body shops, vehicle dealers, customs inspection agents etc. The system will automatically 10 display these notes, or advise a system user of their existence (for them to request and view manually) during relevant stages of conducting various transactions such as when generating a VIR, or changing ownership, or when determining a vehicles value for insurance and financing.

Should a system user request to see notes about a vehicle during part of a VIR transaction, then the notes 15 database will display all notes associated with the search plate, search VIN, MVR returned VIN, and MVR returned past & present plates. In this way all relevant notes pertaining to the vehicle can be viewed.

Manual & Automatic Database Searching A system user may be provided with the facility to perform both manual and automatic searching of the 20 system's various databases. An automatic search can also be issued whereby the system will periodically scan a database for records matching particular search criteria and generate a report of its findings.

Automatic Notification The system can also automatically generate reports, messages and searches and automatically send the 25 results to interested parties via e-mail, fax, pager, direct data facility, WAP or SMS cellphone message, or by a human operator.

For example the system may generate an automatic e-mail to a finance company containing vehicle and transaction details when a vehicle has been sold or bought, instructing the them to add, change or clear any 30 securities lodged against the vehicle. The e-mail may contain a hot-link embedded in the e-mail which will give the recipient access to the system's web site to undertake the suggested action. The e-mail may also contain a unique identifier which will allow the e-mail recipient to quickly locate the relevant vehicle and data on the system, and conduct the transaction more quickly and accurately. The e-mail may also contain the VIR details of the vehicle in the body of the e-mail or as an attached file. 16 IPONZ 1 4 SEP 2006 Automatic reports will also include data discrepancy reports to the managers of government registries, or to the owner(s) of a vehicle to advise of expiration of licenses, inspections etc., or to advise an insurance company when a vehicle has been reported stolen, or to advise a finance company that a vehicle's registration has (or is about to) expire.

Integration With Other Systems The system will be able to integrate with other software applications be having the facility to export and import data in various common formats. This will allow the system to integrate with a system user's general ledger system, accounting package, stock control software, or other software systems. For example, 10 vehicle purchase and sales prices could be automatically or manually imported into the system from a system users accounting package. In this way the system can update or modify the vehicle market valuation database the system accesses. Similarly, the system may export the contents of a VIR via an e-mail attachment (or by some other data transfer means) to a user's local stock control package.

Automatic Web Linking A system user can opt to have hyper-link access from his own web page to his partition of the system's stock database. The system user's web page may be hosted on the system or on another ISP. In this manner members of the public (for instance) can visit a Car Dealer's private web site and be able to view the dealers stock for sale without having to be system user's themselves. The system user's web site will 20 always deliver the latest stock information, without the need to manually up-load and update the web site.

The relevant contents of the systems stock database can similarly be linked with a web based or on-line auction service, so that the system users (and the public) can view, bid, and even purchase vehicles on-line.

Transaction History File The system will store all transactions performed by a user for billing, audit trail and recall purposes. Each entry in the transaction history will contain hot-links which allow the user to 'drill-down' to obtain further information about the components which make up that transaction. For example: the user can view a 'Vehicle Deal', or a "Sale & Purchase Agreement" which involves all component parts of the transaction 30 such as those outlined above. Furthermore, the user can update, modify or re-do the various component parts of the transaction on-line.

Display of Images The system can supplement any text based descriptions obtained from the database(s) with a specific (or 35 representative) image of a vehicle or vehicle owner. The image may be stored within a remote database and delivered to the user along with the text information, or the image may be extracted from a local storage 17 IPONZ t 4 SEP 2006 device attached to the system user's local access terminal/workstation such as a hard disk or CD-ROM drive. Images will also be selected based upon key identifier(s) used to identify the vehicle or owner in the database(s).

Leads Generation The system has the opportunity to generate leads for a number of other companies, products and services. When a system user performs a vehicle query, they can be prompted on-line if they wish to see other information relevant to their interests or to the vehicle they are querying. Examples of these user prompts are; (a) "If you are interested in buying this vehicle, do you want to see other vehicles similar to this one that are presently for sale?" (b) "If you are interested in buying this vehicle, do you want to be notified of other vehicles similar to this one that come up for sale in the near future (eg. "Auto-notify feature")?" (c) "if you are interested in buying a vehicle, do you want to provide your details to car dealers?" (d) "Would you like an insurance, or finance, or mechanical warranty quotation for the subject vehicle?" (e) "Would you like to join a motoring club or association that is relevant to the vehicle you are querying (eg. the Automobile Association, a 4-wheel drive club, the Ferrari owners guild etc.)?" (f) "Would you like to see some accessories which are appropriate for the type of vehicle you are 20 querying?" (g) "If you are the owner of this vehicle, would you like to obtain a trade-in valuation for it from a motor vehicle dealer?" (h) "If you are the owner of this vehicle, would you like to submit it for sale to an on-line 'vehicles for sale' (eg. the MotorMatch) database?" "If so, do you want to attach a copy of this 'Vehicle Information Report'?" The results to be displayed to the user will be based upon some of the data obtained from the vehicle query itself such as; (a) make, model, year and/or colour of the vehicle queried (b) type of vehicle (eg. sports car or 4x4) (c) approximate price range and value of the vehicle (d) location of vehicle (e) condition and quality of the vehicle (eg. mileage, previous damage, number and type of previous owners, commercial usage, etc.) For example, if an insurance, finance or mechanical warranty quotation was requested, then the condition 35 and valuation of the vehicle would be used to prepare the quotation. If additional vehicles offered for sale was requested, then the description or the vehicle, and the location of the vehicle owner will determine what 18 IPONZ 14 SEP 2006 other vehicles are displayed. The type of vehicle will decide what accessories may be of interest (eg. big tires for a 4x4, or an alarm system for an expensive car). The type of vehicle will also determine what car clubs should be displayed.

Other personal details of the user can be captured to further develop the profile of the user and improve the quality, amount, and type of information returned to the user by the system. The information will also be useful to develop statistics. Such information may include; (a) contact details of the user (eg. e-mail address, postal address) (b) demographics of the user (eg. age, sex, income range, career) (c) interests of the user (eg. sports, travel) Different information may be delivered to the user based upon the above and the user's login ID and password, affiliations, type of company etc. For example, a motor vehicle dealer who belongs to a particular industry association would only see certain suppliers of product who had a relationship with that 15 industry association.

The 'vehicles for sale' information could come from the system's 'Motor-Match' database or via the system's 'Auto-notify' feature. These same system features could be used when a user wants to list the queried vehicle for sale to others. The system's data linking feature would be used to obtain vehicle 20 insurance, finance and mechanical warranty quotations, whereby the particulars of the vehicle being queried (and the user) are automatically entered into a quotation form to be sent in real time to a supplier for a quotation, or for processing a final policy. Or the information is sent to an electronic quotation 'calculator' for display to the user.

Advertising & Publishing Many companies recognise the explosive growth of the Internet as a powerful advertising and publishing medium. When properly used as a marketing channel it can generate significant revenues at a fraction of traditional costs. Unfortunately a general web presence often involves waiting for your prospective customers to connect to, and regularly use the Internet. Even then they may only stumble across your site 30 amongst a sea of distractions and competitors.

The system of the invention on the other hand, is an "industry specific Internet" or "Intranet" where all users are involved with vehicles, or buyers of vehicles, and access the system on a daily basis. This provides an unequalled opportunity for organisations to publish information, advertise products, and 35 conduct transactions with a captive audience of pre-qualified prospects who have known automotive 19 IPONZ 1 4 SEP 2006 interests and needs. The system will consolidate information from various sources into a single interface, creating the "critical mass" of information needed to attract users.

Publishing and advertising is further enhanced by the system's use of the latest Internet "push technologies" 5 which will automatically deliver specific information to specific users based upon the status or type of user, or based upon user information held within the system, or based upon the type of transaction or vehicle being queried, without any effort on their part. This provides a vast improvement over the "hit and miss" approach to advertising on the wide open Web. Companies can also use electronic mailing lists to communicate with any number of their customers, members, & prospects immediately and at negligible 10 cost (eg. price updates, industry alerts & surveys).

Electronic Commerce Electronic commerce practices can significantly reduce overheads and improve competitive position. One example shows that Internet based businesses can eliminate agent, broker and tele-sales commissions giving 15 customers a 25% saving over competitors. In other instances sales costs of $200 can be reduced to $1 via the Internet.

The system may be provided with the facility to support electronic commerce transactions whereby a system user can sell or purchase various products & services related to motor vehicles. Again the system 20 may automatically provide known data such as vehicle description, sales price, market valuation, vehicle owner & system user details (originally obtained from reliable government data sources) to perform these transactions, keep a record of the transactions, perform the required electronic debits and credits, and calculate commissions. A product supplier may in turn use the system to respond with a verification of the business transaction. The communication can take place in real time on-line, via e-mail, a fax facility, or 25 via a direct data link to the supplier of the product or service.

For example: After purchasing a new vehicle, a customer requests that it be insured. The system automatically inserts all the details about the vehicle, its value, and the new owner into an electronic insurance application form, and sends it directly to an insurance company on-line. The insurance company 30 responds with its approval and a policy document by fax. The system automatically calculates an insurance sales commission and debits and credits the appropriate bank accounts.

Advertising, Publishing & E-Commerce Capabilities Industry Associations: Newsletters, industry bulletins, membership lists, surveys, codes of conduct, discussion forums.

IPONZ 14 SEP 2006 Vehicle Auctioneers: Vehicle Manufacturers: Finance, Insurance & Leasing Co's: Panel Beaters & Garages: Miscellaneous: Government Registries: Dealer Guide: Police & Customs Depts: Auction items & schedules, submission forms, sales statistics New vehicle models, road tests, option sheets, VIN decoding Special offers, premium calculators, application forms, extended warrantee policies, lease agreements, insurance policies, finance applications etc.

Parts catalogues, repair manuals, inspection codes & diagrams Car transport services, auto accessories, valet services, credit checks Regulations, statistics, vehicle inspection codes Residual value calculations, market statistics, on-line subscriptions, new product advertising Transport Act & customs regulations, imported vehicle procedures, excise duty & declaration forms On-Line Help & Tutorial The system may provide an on-line help facility to explain the layout of various screens and the meaning of various fields. These may be contact sensitive so a system user can place a cursor over a field and get 5 specific help by "right clicking" the mouse.

A "wizard" utility may also be incorporated into the system to direct a system user to perform the required transactions in the correct order and to ensure transactions are completed with a minimum of errors or omissions. For example: • A car dealer uses Motor-Match to locate the desired model of a car for a customer.

• The dealer contacts the other dealer to arrange a sales commission and the vehicle's delivery by telephone, tax or e-mail.

• The customer's trade-in is checked for ownership, registered liens, legal status (licensed or stolen), and its market value.

• If the dealer accepts the trade-in, he changes the ownership into his name, adds the vehicle to his private inventory list, and simultaneously advertises the trade-in to other dealers via Motor-Match.

• A description of the 'new' vehicle, the dealer and customer data is automatically entered into a loan & insurance application form which is sent electronically to a finance & insurance company.

• The finance & insurance companies use the system to check the customers credit rating, drivers 20 license status, verify the new vehicles value, and submit a quotation.

• The buyer accepts the quotation and the system electronically sends the completed and approved insurance policy and/or finance agreement to the appropriate company, and prints the required documents for the buyer. The system registers a lien against the vehicle if financing is accepted. 21 IPONZ H SEP 2006 • The dealer ensures the new vehicles registration, licensing, and WOF are up to date, collects any road user charges and prints the required certificates.

• The dealer transfers the new vehicle ownership to the customer, simultaneously removing that vehicle from the dealer's stock inventory, but adding the buyer & vehicle details to the System's customer contact database.

• The dealer prints a VIR summarising all the details of the new vehicle and gives it to the buyer.

Figure 1 illustrates the actual information flows between the system user and various databases and datasources, and 3rd party suppliers of services.

Figure 2 illustrates how the results of a vehicle query can be used to extract further information of interest to the user, and generate sales leads for suppliers of motor vehicle related products and services. The system user may be a qualified vehicle buyer checking a vehicle they wish to purchase. Based upon the type of vehicle they are interested in, other similar vehicle for sale could be displayed to give them a wider 15 choice. These additional vehicles could come from a range of sources such as the system's own "MotorMatch" database which is populated with vehicles offered for sale by motor vehicle dealers. In this way qualified vehicle buyers are automatically put in touch with sellers of relevant vehicles. Other products like insurance and finance quotations can also be displayed based upon the type of vehicle being queried.

Figure 3 illustrates a wider system of which this invention could become part of.

The foregoing describes a preferred form of the invention. Alterations and modifications as will be obvious to those skilled in the art are intended to be incorporated within the scope hereof, as defined in the accompanying claims. 22 IPONZ H SEP 2006

Claims (47)

What I claim is:

1. A leads generation system comprising a computer arranged to receive input from a system user that contains one or more vehicle identifiers selected from the following group; 5 a) a vehicle's current plate number, b) a vehicle's identification number (VIN), and programmed to use said vehicle identifier as a key to search at least one database of vehicle data 10 to obtain details of a first vehicle to which said vehicle identifier relates; and programmed to use some portion of said first vehicle details as a key to search a datasource containing details of vehicles for sale to obtain details of one or more vehicles for sale that is similar to said first vehicle; 15 and programmed to send a message containing said details of said vehicle for sale to said system user.

2. A leads generation system of claim 1 wherein said database of vehicle data comprises one or more of 20 the items selected from the following group; a) the New Zealand Motor Vehicle Register, b) a Land Transport New Zealand database, c) a database containing registration details of vehicles. 25

3. A leads generation system of claim 1 wherein said details of said first vehicle comprises one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) vehicle year, 30 b) vehicle make, c) vehicle model, d) vehicle colour, e) address of current registered owner of vehicle, f) vehicle odometer reading, 35 g) vehicle transmission type, h) vehicle engine size, 23 IPONZ 1 4 SEP 2006 i) vehicle fuel type, j) vehicle type.

A leads generation system of any one of the preceding claims which is further adapted to advise said system user of said details of said first vehicle.

A leads generation system of claim 1 wherein said input from said system user further comprises one or more of the contact details selected from the following group; a) system user's email address, b) system user's fax number, c) system user's mailing address, d) system user's telephone number, e) system user's text messaging number.

A leads generation system of claim 1 wherein said input from said system user further comprises one or more of the personal details selected from the following group; a) system user's age, b) system user's sex, c) system user's income range, d) system user's career, e) system user's interests, f) system user's other demographics.

A leads generation system of claim 1 wherein said input from said system user further comprises a login ED.

A leads generation system of claims 5 and 6 and 7 further including a means to use some portion of said input from said system user as a key to search said datasource of vehicles for sale to obtain details of other said vehicles for sale that may be relevant and/or of interest to said system user.

A leads generation system of any one of claims 1 and 8 wherein said details of said vehicle for sale comprise one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) contact details for the seller of said vehicle for sale, 24 IPONZ H SEP 2006 b) name of the seller of said vehicle for sale, c) vehicle year, b) vehicle make, e) vehicle model, f) vehicle colour, g) vehicle location, h) vehicle price, i) vehicle engine size, j) vehicle transmission type, k) vehicle fuel type, 1) vehicle odometer reading, m) vehicle accessories and features, n) vehicle registration plate number, o) vehicle VIN number.

A leads generation system of any one of the preceding claims further including a means to send a message to said seller of said vehicle for sale that contains one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) said system user's contact details, b) said system user's personal details, c) said system user's demographics, d) the description of said vehicle for sale.

A leads generation system of any one of the preceding claims further including a means to use first information that includes some portion of information contained in one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) said details of said first vehicle, b) said system user's contact details, c) said system user's personal details, to obtain second information that is relevant to said first information wherein said second information comprises one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) vehicle accessories, 25 IPONZ H SEP 2006 b) car clubs, c) motoring associations, and create and send a message to said system user containing said second information.

A leads generation system of any one of the preceding claims further including a means to send a message containing some portion of said system user's contact details and some portion of said details of said first vehicle to a third party for one or more of the following purposes; a) obtaining a quotation, b) preparing a policy; wherein said third party comprises one or more of the parties selected from the following list; a) a finance company, b) an insurance company, c) a mechanical warranty company.

A leads generation system of any one of the preceding claims further including a means to send a message to a motor vehicle trader containing some portion of said system user's contact details; and some portion of said details of said first vehicle; and one or more of the following; a) a request for a valuation on said first vehicle, b) an offer to sell said first vehicle, c) expressing an interest in purchasing said first vehicle.

A leads generation system of any one of the preceding claims further including a means for said system user to submit some portion of said system user's contact details and some portion of said details of said first vehicle to said datasource containing details of vehicles for sale.

A leads generation system of any one of the preceding claims wherein said messages sent by said leads generation system are conveyed using one or more of the methods selected from the following group; a) displayed on a web page, b) a text message, 26 IPONZ H SEP 2MB 5 16. 17. 10 18. 15 19. 20 20. 25 30 21. c) a facsimile, d) a voice message, e) an email.

A leads generation system of any one of the preceding claims wherein individual parts of said leads generation system can operate in real time or batch mode.

A leads generation system of any one of the preceding claims wherein said leads generation system is configured to operate over the internet.

A leads generation system of any one of the preceding claims wherein said system user comprises one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) a person, b) a computer system.

A leads generation system one of the preceding claims further including said datasource containing details of vehicles for sale.

A method of supplying relevant information about motor vehicles and related products or services to an entity using the following steps; a) receiving from said entity a vehicle identifier relating to a first vehicle of interest, b) using said vehicle identifier as a key to a vehicle database to obtain details of said first vehicle, c) using some portion of the details of said first vehicle as a key to a datasource of vehicles being offered for sale to obtain information about at least one vehicle for sale that is similar to said first vehicle, d) providing said information to said entity.

A method of claim 20 wherein said vehicle identifier comprises one of the items selected from the following list; 35 a) a vehicle's current registration plate number, b) vehicle identification number (VIN). 27 IPONZ 14 SEP 2006

A method of claim 20 wherein said vehicle database comprises one or more of the items selected from the following list; a) the New Zealand Motor Vehicle Register, b) a Land Transport New Zealand database, c) a database containing registration details of vehicles.

A method of claim 20 wherein said details of said first vehicle comprises one or more of the items selected from the following list; a) vehicle year, b) vehicle make, c) vehicle model, d) vehicle colour, e) address of current registered owner of vehicle, f) vehicle odometer reading, g) vehicle transmission type, h) vehicle engine size, i) vehicle fuel type, j) vehicle type.

A method of claims 20 wherein said information comprises one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) contact details for the seller of said vehicle for sale, b) name of the seller of said vehicle for sale, c) vehicle year, b) vehicle make, e) vehicle model, f) vehicle colour, g) vehicle location, h) vehicle price, i) vehicle engine size, j) vehicle transmission type, k) vehicle fuel type, 28 IPONZ H SEP 2006 1) vehicle odometer reading, m) vehicle accessories and features, n) vehicle registration plate number, o) vehicle VIN number.

A method of claim 20 further including the steps of advising said entity of said details of said first vehicle.

A method of claim 20 further including the step of receiving said entity's contact details that comprise one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) system user's email address, b) system user's fax number, c) system user's mailing address, d) system user's telephone number, e) system user's text messaging number.

A method of any one of claims 20 to 26 further including the step of sending a message that contains at least a portion of said entity's contact details and at least a portion of said details of said vehicle for sale to said seller of said vehicle for sale.

A method of any one of claims 20 to 27 further including the step of using said first information that includes some portion of information contained in one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) said details of said first vehicle, b) said system user's contact details, c) said system user's personal details, to obtain second information that is relevant to said first information wherein said second information comprises one or more of the items selected from the following group; d) vehicle accessories, e) car clubs, f) motoring associations, 29 IPONZ H SEP 200$ and create and send a message to said system user containing said second information.

A method of any one of claims 20 to 28 further including the step of sending a message containing some portion of said system user's contact details and some portion of said details of said first vehicle to a third party for one or more of the following purposes; a) obtaining a quotation, b) preparing a policy; wherein said third party comprises one or more of the parties selected from the following list; a) a finance company, b) an insurance company, c) a mechanical warranty company.

A method of any one of claims 20 to 29 further including the step of sending a message to a motor vehicle trader containing some portion of said system user's contact details; and some portion of said details of said first vehicle; and one or more of the following; d) a request for a valuation on said first vehicle, e) an offer to sell said first vehicle, f) expressing an interest in purchasing said first vehicle.

A method of any one of claims 20 to 30 further including the step of using first information that comprises some portion of information contained in one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) said system user's contact details, b) said details of said first vehicle, to obtain relevant second information that comprises one or more of the items selected from the following group; e) vehicle accessories, f) car clubs, g) motoring associations, 30 IPONZ H SEP 2006 and then create and send a message to said system user containing said relevant second information.

32. A method of any one of claims 20 to 31 wherein said messages are sent using one or more of the 5 means selected from the following group; a) a web page, b) a text message, c) a facsimile, 10 d) a voice message, e) an email.

33. A method of any one of claims 20 to 32 wherein individual steps of said method are performed by a computer. 15

34. A method of any one of claims 20 to 33 wherein said entity includes one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) a person, 20 b) a computer system.

35. A leads generation system for providing information about motor vehicles for sale that are similar to 25 an initial vehicle being queried comprising; a computer; a means to receive a vehicle identifier from a person; 30 a means to use said vehicle identifier as a key to search a government database containing details of vehicles registered in New Zealand; a means to receive details of a first vehicle from said database to which said vehicle identifier 35 relates, wherein said details of said first vehicle comprise one or more of the items selected from the following group; 31 IPONZ H SEP 2006 a) vehicle year, b) vehicle make, c) vehicle model, 5 d) vehicle colour, e) vehicle odometer reading, f) vehicle transmission type, g) vehicle engine size, h) vehicle fuel type; 10 a means to use some portion of said details of said first vehicle as a key to search a datasource of vehicles for sale to obtain details of at least one vehicle for sale that has characteristics similar to said first vehicle; 15 wherein said details of said vehicle for sale comprises one or more of the items selected from the following group; i) contact details for the seller of said vehicle for sale, j) name of the seller of said vehicle for sale, 20 k) vehicle year, 1) vehicle make, m) vehicle model, n) vehicle colour, o) vehicle location, 25 p) vehicle price, q) vehicle engine size, r) vehicle transmission type, s) vehicle fuel type, t) vehicle odometer reading, 30 u) vehicle accessories and features, v) vehicle registration plate number, y) vehicle VIN number; a means to advise said entity of said details of said vehicle for sale via one or more of the 35 communication channels selected from the following group; 32 IPONZ 14 SEP 2006 z) a web page, aa) a text message, ab) an email. 5

36. A leads generation system of claim 35 further comprising said datasource of vehicles for sale.

37. A leads generation system for providing information about motor vehicle products and services for 10 that relate to an initial vehicle being queried comprising; a computer; a means to receive a vehicle identifier from a person; 15 a means to use said vehicle identifier as a key to search a government database containing details of vehicles registered in New Zealand; a means to receive details of a first vehicle from said government database to which said vehicle 20 identifier relates, wherein said details of said first vehicle comprise one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) vehicle year, b) vehicle make, 25 c) vehicle model, d) vehicle colour, e) vehicle odometer reading, f) vehicle transmission type, g) vehicle engine size, 30 h) vehicle fuel type; a means to use first information that includes some portion of said details of said first vehicle to obtain second information that is relevant to said first vehicle and wherein said second information comprises one or more of the items selected from the following group; 35 a) vehicle accessories, 33 IPONZ 14 SEP 2006 b) car clubs, c) motoring associations, and display said second information to said person.

A leads generation system for providing information about motor vehicle products and services for that relate to an initial vehicle being queried comprising; a computer; a means to receive a vehicle identifier from a person; a means to use said vehicle identifier as a key to search a government database containing details of vehicles registered in New Zealand; a means to receive details of a first vehicle from said government database to which said vehicle identifier relates, wherein said details of said first vehicle comprise one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) vehicle year, b) vehicle make, c) vehicle model, d) vehicle colour, e) vehicle odometer reading, f) vehicle transmission type, g) vehicle engine size, h) vehicle fuel type; a means to send first information that includes some portion of said details of said first vehicle to a 3 rd party for the purposes of said 3rd party preparing one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) a quotation, b) an application, 34 IPONZ 1 4 SEP 2006 c) a policy document; wherein said third party comprises one or more of the parties selected from the following group; 5 a) a finance company, b) an insurance company, c) a mechanical warranty company.

39. A leads generation system of claim 38 further comprising a means to receive one or more of the 10 further details selected from the following group; a) said person's contact details, b) said person's demographics, 15 and a means of including said further details as part of said first information.

40. A leads generation system for submitting information about a motor vehicle being offered for sale 20 comprising; a computer; a means to receive a vehicle identifier from an entity; 25 a means to use said vehicle identifier as a key to search a government database containing details of vehicles registered in New Zealand; a means to receive details of a first vehicle from said government database to which said vehicle 30 identifier relates, wherein said details of said first vehicle comprise one or more of the items selected from the following group; a) vehicle year, b) vehicle make, 35 c) vehicle model, d) vehicle colour, 35 IPONZ I 4 SEP 2006 e) vehicle odometer reading, f) vehicle transmission type, g) vehicle engine size, h) vehicle fuel type, 5 i) vehicle VIN number, j) vehicle registration plate number; a means to receive further information from said entity wherein said further information comprises one or more of the items selected from the following group; 10 a) contact details for the seller of said first vehicle, b) name of the seller of said first vehicle, c) location of said first vehicle, d) sale price of said first vehicle; 15 a means to submit at least a portion of said details of said first vehicle and at least a portion of said further information to a datasource of vehicles being offered for sale.

41. A leads generation system of claim 40 further comprising said datasource of vehicles being offered 20 for sale.

42. A leads generation system responsive to enquiries on vehicles from system users; including a means 25 to receive a vehicle identifier from said system user and use it as a key to query a motor vehicle registry to obtain details of a first vehicle to which said vehicle identifier relates; and further including a means to use some portion of said first vehicle details as a key to extract details of at least one second vehicle of a similar type to said first vehicle from a datasource containing details of vehicles being offered for sale; and further including a means of displaying said second vehicle 30 details to said user; wherein said second vehicle details includes contact details for the seller of said second vehicle.

43. A leads generation system of claim 42 further including a means to receive said system user's contact details; and further including a means to send some portion of said second vehicle details 35 and some portion of said system user's contact details to said seller of said second vehicle. 36 IPONZ H SEP 2006

44. A leads generation system of claim 42 further comprising said datasource of vehicles being offered for sale. 5

45. 10

46. 15 20

47. 25 IPONZ ' 4 SEP 2006 A leads generation system responsive to enquiries on vehicles from system users; including a means to receive a vehicle identifier from said system user and use it as a key to queiy a motor vehicle registry to obtain details of a first vehicle to which said vehicle identifier relates; and further including a means to send some portion of said first vehicle details to a supplier of vehicle related products; and further including a means to receive product information from said supplier that relates to said first vehicle; and further including a means to display said supplier information to said system user. A leads generation system of claim 45 further including a means to receive said system user's demographic details; and further including a means to send some portion of said demographic details to said supplier; and further including a means to receive product information from said supplier that relates to said demographic details.