Claude just bought me a car

Unfortunately, my car was recently totaled after a rear-end collision. Thankfully, everybody is okay. Armed with a $21,000 check from the insurance company, I needed a new car ASAP.

Somewhat relatedly, a couple of months ago I won a prize from a local radio station. It could be redeemed for $100 towards an oil change, or $1,000 off a used vehicle at a reputable local used car dealership. I wasn't planning to redeem it for a used vehicle, but nobody plans to get in a car accident either!

I liked my old car. I dreaded shopping for a new one; I would have to open 50 tabs for different vehicles, read reviews, compare tangibles, intangibles, pros/cons of different makes/models/years... That's not my idea of fun, I just want a car. So why not make Claude do it?

I navigated to the dealership's inventory page, opened the Claude extension, and prompted it:

My 2019 Subaru Outback Premium is totaled and I need a new car. I have $21,000 from insurance and a $1000 coupon to vehicles >$10k for hhtires. Find me a comparable car here. I'm flexible on price but generally want to keep it under 25k

After launching the prompt, I walked away while Claude tooled around, which is somewhat risky; it could be susceptible to prompt injections, navigate me to a different website, or click something it shouldn't. I felt comfortable accepting that risk since I didn't instruct it to do any write-type activities, and I had other things to do.

And it delivered! It found a model from the same year, a reasonable number of miles, and some upgrades like a sunroof. And I love the blue color! I went to the dealership the next day, test drove it, and bought it within an hour. Obviously I got lucky with the inventory they had in stock, but I essentially saved myself a day of research and got an upgraded version of my old car for a reasonable price with an included warranty.