Patent ID: 8712803

Claim:
A system for electronically verifying vehicle insurance coverage, the system comprising: a memory; and a processing unit coupled to the memory, wherein the processing unit is configured to: store a plurality of identifiers, each associated with one of a plurality of vehicle operators; store current vehicle insurance coverage information for each of the stored identifiers, wherein the current vehicle insurance coverage information is updated to reflect changes in vehicle insurance coverage for each of the stored identifiers; receive a query via a communications network requesting verification whether a first vehicle operator has current vehicle insurance coverage, wherein the query includes an identifier associated with the first vehicle operator; compare the first vehicle operator's identifier to the plurality of stored identifiers; verify whether the first vehicle operator has current vehicle insurance coverage based on a result of the comparison; communicate a signal indicative of the result to a source of the query; maintain a record of a source and frequency from the source of each query requesting verification whether the first vehicle operator has current insurance coverage; communicate an alert to an insurance provider indicating that a predetermined number of queries, requesting verification whether the first vehicle operator has current vehicle insurance coverage, have been received from the source during a pre-determined time period; and calculate an insurance premium based on a risk assessment that is calculated using the alert.