Patent ID: 8732032

Claim:
A system for preparing an estimate for a claim to repair an automobile, the system comprising: a part location system having one or more computing devices, wherein the part location system presents a user interface to receive input specifying a set of rules; a plurality of supplier computing systems, each of the plurality of supplier computing systems maintaining a respective inventory database of recycled parts, wherein the plurality of supplier computing systems are coupled to the part location system by a communication network, and an estimating platform comprising one or more computing devices coupled to the part location system via the communication network, wherein the estimating platform presents a user interface to receive an initial estimate from a user to repair an automobile, wherein the initial estimate includes a list of parts needed to repair the automobile, wherein the estimating platform provides the initial estimate to a part location system via the communication network, wherein, in response to receiving the initial estimate, the part location system automatically generates an a request for quote (RFQ) using information extracted from the initial estimate and sends the RFQ to the supplier computing systems, wherein, in response to the sending RFQ, the part location system receives one or more electronic quotations from the supplier computing systems for recycled parts needed to repair the automobile, wherein the part location system applies the rules to filter the electronic quotations to identify ones of the electronic quotations that comply with criteria specified by the set of rules and sends the identified one of the electronic quotations to the estimating platform, wherein the estimating platform receives the identified ones of the electronic quotations from the part location system, and wherein the estimating platform automatically incorporates one or more of the identified electronic quotations received from the part location system into the initial estimate to form a final estimate.