Patent ID: 7340332

Claim:
A method of tracking usage habits of a vehicle having a standard vehicle data port, comprising the steps of: a. upon receiving an authorized user identification, recording in a local vehicle data storage medium a user identification, a start date, a start time, and a start odometer reading; b. upon sensing engine shutoff, recording in the local vehicle data storage medium a shutoff date, a shutoff time and a shutoff odometer reading; c. receiving a request for vehicle usage information from an off-board data storage device; d. in response to the request, transmitting, from the local vehicle data storage medium to the off-board data storage device, the user identification, the start date, the start odometer reading, the shutoff date, the shutoff time and the shutoff odometer reading; and e. transmitting from the off-board data storage device to a remote computer, via a global computer network, a report that includes the user identification, the start date, the start odometer reading, the shutoff date, the shutoff time and the shutoff odometer reading.