Wholesale/trade-in pricing system, method and computer program product therefor

Abstract

Systems, methods and computer program products that determine wholesale prices for durable goods such as used vehicles. In one embodiment, a system includes a computer processor, a network interface, a data storage device, and an output device. The system collects and stores, via the network interface, historical sales information from external data sources. A retail price for a target vehicle is determined based on the collected information. Condition information for the vehicle is collected and used to adjust the retail price to arrive at a wholesale price, which is output to a user. The system may also adjust the price based on repair costs associated with identified vehicle conditions. The system may collect cost information associated with a wholesale sale transaction and deduct these costs and a profit margin from the wholesale price to produce a trade-in price.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for determining pricing information, the system comprising:
 a computer processor;   a network interface coupled to the processor;   a data storage device coupled to the processor;   an output device coupled to the processor;   wherein the processor is configured to:   collect, via the network interface, historical sales information from one or more data sources external to the system and store the collected historical sales information on the data storage device,   determine a retail price for a target vehicle based on the collected historical sales information,   collect condition information from a user input device, wherein the condition information indicates conditions associated with the target vehicle,   determine one or more price modifications based on the conditions associated with the target vehicle,   determine a wholesale price of the target vehicle based on the collected historical sales information and condition information;   wherein the processor is configured to output the wholesale price to a user via the output device.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
 examine the collected condition information;   extract condition terms associated with individual conditions associated with the target vehicle;   associate numeric values with corresponding ones of the extracted terms; and   store the numeric values in the data storage device.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 group together one or more of the condition terms; and   associate numeric values with corresponding groups of the condition terms.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 collect wholesale sale transaction cost information from one or more data sources;   determine a trade-in value of the target vehicle based on the wholesale price and the wholesale sale transaction cost information; and   output the trade-in value to the user via the output device.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the processor is configured to:
 collect wholesale sale transaction cost information from a plurality of data sources that are associated with different auction locations;   determine wholesale sale transaction costs associated with the different auction locations;   determine separate trade-in values for each of the different auction locations; and   output the trade-in values for each of the different auction locations to the user via the output device.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
 retrieve the historical sales information from one or more wholesale auction databases.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to provide to the user input device a set of graphical user interface screens that enable a user to input the condition information, and wherein condition information input by the user is received by the processor and stored in the data storage device. 
     
     
         8 . A method for determining pricing information, the method comprising:
 collecting, by a server computer having a processor and a memory, historical sales information from one or more data sources communicatively connected to the server computer;   storing, by the server computer, the collected historical sales information on a data storage device;   determining, by the server computer, a retail price for a target vehicle based on the collected historical sales information;   collecting, by the server computer, condition information from a user input device communicatively connected to the server computer, wherein the condition information indicates conditions associated with the target vehicle;   determining, by the server computer, one or more price modifications based on the conditions associated with the target vehicle;   determining, by the server computer, a wholesale price of the target vehicle based on the collected historical sales information and condition information;   outputting, by the server computer, the wholesale price to a user via an output device.   
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 8 , further comprising:
 examining the collected condition information;   extracting condition terms associated with individual conditions associated with the target vehicle;   associating numeric values with corresponding ones of the extracted terms; and   storing the numeric values in the data storage device.   
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 9 , further comprising:
 grouping together one or more of the condition terms; and   associating numeric values with corresponding groups of the condition terms.   
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 8 , further comprising:
 collecting wholesale sale transaction cost information from one or more data sources'   determining a trade-in value of the target vehicle based on the wholesale price and the wholesale sale transaction cost information; and   outputting the trade-in value to the user via the output device.   
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 11 , further comprising:
 collecting wholesale sale transaction cost information from a plurality of data sources that are associated with different auction locations;   determining wholesale sale transaction costs associated with the different auction locations;   determining separate trade-in values for each of the different auction locations; and   outputting the trade-in values for each of the different auction locations to the user via the output device.   
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 8 , further comprising:
 retrieving the historical sales information from one or more wholesale auction databases.   
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 8 , further comprising:
 providing to the user input device a set of graphical user interface screens that enable a user to input the condition information, wherein condition information input by the user is stored in the data storage device.   
     
     
         15 . A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions that are translatable by a server computer to perform:
 collecting historical sales information from one or more data sources communicatively connected to the server computer;   storing the collected historical sales information on a data storage device;   determining a retail price for a target vehicle based on the collected historical sales information;   collecting condition information from a user input device, wherein the condition information indicates conditions associated with the target vehicle;   determining one or more price modifications based on the conditions associated with the target vehicle;   determining a wholesale price of the target vehicle based on the collected historical sales information and condition information; and   outputting the wholesale price to a user via an output device.   
     
     
         16 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the computer instructions are further translatable by the server computer to perform:
 examining the collected condition information;   extracting condition terms associated with individual conditions associated with the target vehicle;   associating numeric values with corresponding ones of the extracted terms; and   storing the numeric values in the data storage device.   
     
     
         17 . The computer program product of  claim 16 , wherein the computer instructions are further translatable by the server computer to perform:
 grouping together one or more of the condition terms and associating numeric values with corresponding groups of the condition terms.   
     
     
         18 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the computer instructions are further translatable by the server computer to perform:
 collecting wholesale sale transaction cost information from one or more data sources;   determining a trade-in value of the target vehicle based on the wholesale price and the wholesale sale transaction cost information; and   outputting the trade-in value to the user via the output device.   
     
     
         19 . The computer program product of  claim 18 , wherein the computer instructions are further translatable by the server computer to perform:
 collecting wholesale sale transaction cost information from a plurality of data sources that are associated with different auction locations;   determining wholesale sale transaction costs associated with the different auction locations;   determining separate trade-in values for each of the different auction locations; and   outputting the trade-in values for each of the different auction locations to the user via the output device.   
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the computer instructions are further translatable by the server computer to perform:
 providing to the user input device a set of graphical user interface screens that enable a user to input the condition information, wherein condition information input by the user is stored in the data storage device.