Decide whether to buy, lease or wait on a big purchase

The van's dying, the oven's on its last legs, or you need new kit. Lay out buying outright, finance, leasing and waiting side by side with your own numbers, before a salesperson does it for you.

Updated 17 Oct 2026

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The prompt · ChatGPT

Help me compare buying, financing, leasing or waiting on a big purchase.

What I need: [e.g. a van, an oven, a laptop]
Why now: [it's broken, it's costing me in repairs]
Options and quotes: [cash price; finance terms; lease terms; or keep repairing]
My cash: [roughly what's in the bank and how steady trade is]
How long I'd keep it: [years]

First ask me up to 4 short questions. Wait for my answers.

Then:
1. A table for each option: upfront cost, monthly cost, total over the period, what I own at the end, flexibility.
2. What each does to my cash in the next 3 months.
3. The main risk of each if trade drops.
4. Questions to ask the supplier or finance company.
5. Questions to ask my accountant about the tax treatment of each option.

Use only my figures; show the sums. Not financial or tax advice. Only use what I've told you, leave blanks for anything I haven't given, and don't invent facts or figures. UK English.

Stay in this ChatGPT chat. Do not turn on apps or connectors, and do not use memory from another chat.

A short example

Fill the blanks, then paste. e.g. a van, an oven, a laptop: a short note you already have. it's broken, it's costing me in repairs: a short note you already have. Leave the rest of the prompt as written.

This does not give tax advice. The books stay in the accounting system.

The prompt · Claude

Help me compare buying, financing, leasing or waiting on a big purchase.

What I need: [e.g. a van, an oven, a laptop]
Why now: [it's broken, it's costing me in repairs]
Options and quotes: [cash price; finance terms; lease terms; or keep repairing]
My cash: [roughly what's in the bank and how steady trade is]
How long I'd keep it: [years]

First ask me up to 4 short questions. Wait for my answers.

Then:
1. A table for each option: upfront cost, monthly cost, total over the period, what I own at the end, flexibility.
2. What each does to my cash in the next 3 months.
3. The main risk of each if trade drops.
4. Questions to ask the supplier or finance company.
5. Questions to ask my accountant about the tax treatment of each option.

Use only my figures; show the sums. Not financial or tax advice. Only use what I've told you, leave blanks for anything I haven't given, and don't invent facts or figures. UK English.

Stay in this Claude chat. Do not use a connector, and do not open a project that already holds someone else's files.

A short example

You describe what you need and the quotes or offers you have.

The assistant asks your cash position and how long you'd keep it.

You get a side-by-side table of total cost and cash impact, the risks and questions for the supplier and accountant.

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What happens

Use Claude to decide whether to buy, lease or wait on a big purchase

The van's dying, the oven's on its last legs, or you need new kit. Lay out buying outright, finance, leasing and waiting side by side with your own numbers, before a salesperson does it for you.

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