Patent ID: 7921041

Claim:
A computerized method for preparing and presenting to a vehicle owner a vehicle cost of repair estimate, comprising: (a) receiving at a server from said vehicle owner vehicle identification data regarding a vehicle to be repaired; (b) receiving at said server component identification data for at least one component of said vehicle to be repaired; (c) in response to receiving at said server said vehicle identification data and said component identification data, retrieving from one or more databases: (1) vehicle manufacturer component cost data associated with said at least one component; (2) vehicle manufacturer labor time data associated with said at least one component; and (3) labor rate data associated with said at least one component; (d) determining at said server an average labor rate for completing a repair with said at least one component, said average labor rate representative of labor rates at a plurality of repair facilities; (e) automatically calculating at said server a cost of repair estimate using: (1) said vehicle manufacturer component cost data associated with said at least one component; (2) said vehicle manufacturer labor time data associated with said at least one component; and (3) said average labor rate data associated with said at least one component; and (f) transmitting from said server for display to said vehicle owner said cost of repair estimate.