Should I sell or trade in my newer car for a used one?

We have a 2006 SUV that is worth around $19,000 (kbb). We owe $14,000 on it. What is the best way to sell this SUV? Try to sell it private party or see what we could get for trade-in value? We are looking to downsize to a $6,000-$8,000 used car. Any suggestions? I just want to make sure I can get the most out of the SUV and get a good deal on the used car.|||Definitely sell private-party. You will only get about 70% going with a dealership over selling it yourself.





Use Craigslist.com to list it. It is free and has a huge volume of people who view it on a daily basis. I sold my Grand Prix in less than 45 minutes for $500 more than I listed it. I pressed "post" and had over 50 phone calls in 2 days. I showed someone 45 minutes after listing it and they bought it. I removed it from Craigslist and was still getting phone calls from people who did see it the day before.





You might also want to try using Carsoup.com -- since it has a one time listing fee and stays on there until it is sold. Since you are looking to sell a car for quite a bit of money, this might be the way to go. I would suggest lowering the price and taking a small hit on it, just to sell it. You will not sell a used 2006 for that price when someone can buy a new 2007 for the same price. It is just how the market works.





Good luck!|||The good thing is you are not upside down on the SUV, meaning you don't owe more than it is worth. You have several options. You can sell it privately, try to get close to worth so you can pay it off. You can also sell to someone who will take over the loan. You could try to trade in but to trade for something worth less than what you have is not a good idea. I would well it to pay it off.|||always try to sell yourself that way you make the most money and then you can downsize. The dealer will give you far less for your car that is how they make there money|||Its gonna be hard to able to get a good trade in value considering you've only paid 5,000 so far. The dealers usually go off by the amount of money you have paid on it and the "now" value of the car. So its hard to say.