A method of determining the presence of a mobile computing device in a vehicle includes: moving the mobile computing device into a vehicle; establishing a data communications connection to the mobile computing device over a data network; collecting at least one identifying factor through the data communications connection which at least partially identifies the vehicle; using an electronic processor, executing at least one software rule to make a vehicle determination which identifies the vehicle based on the at least one identifying factor; and storing the result of the vehicle determination for further use.