Patent ID: 8452648

Claim:
A computer-assisted method of facilitating the marketing, redemption, and reimbursement of prepaid vehicle services in a vehicle service network, comprising: screening vehicle service stations for participation in the vehicle service network; accepting at least some of the vehicle service stations as participant service stations in the vehicle service network; storing data associated with the participant service stations in at least one database of a vehicle service network computer; receiving participant fees from the participant service stations in exchange for participation in the vehicle service network; advertising the vehicle service network to consumers; enrolling at least some of the consumers as members of the vehicle service network; storing membership data associated with the members in member accounts in the at least one database of the vehicle service network computer; receiving prepaid vehicle service fees from the members in exchange for vehicle services to be rendered by the participant service stations and crediting the member accounts in the at least one database of the vehicle service network computer; issuing voucher data to the members for redemption at the participant service stations for the vehicle services; associating the voucher data with the membership data using the vehicle service network computer and storing the voucher data in the at least one database of the vehicle service network computer; using the voucher data to verify membership of the members and authorize performance of at least some of the vehicle services when the members redeem their voucher data; debiting the member accounts in the at least one database of the vehicle service network computer, based on the performance of the at least some of the vehicle services; receiving receipt data from the participant service stations for the performance of the at least some of the vehicle services, wherein the receipt data includes authorization data from the members; and reimbursing the participant service stations for the rendered vehicle services wherein the participant service stations are reimbursed by a vehicle service network administrator.