I think it is better to trade in. You get about as much as people using the classifieds are willing to pay, and you get the tax savings on the new car. I have never leased though, so I dont know how that works.

 

Someone sent me a link to http://www.thegtrader.com on Craigslist. You can try that out.

 

Would trading it in for a used car be a good idea? I'm leaning towards an Acura TSX.

 

With my lease, I can sell the car, trade it in or just drop it a the dealer (next May in my case) and walk away. I might shop some dealers and see what they can give me if I traded.

 

Any tax savings depends on the state. In Oklahoma, you pay tax on the MSRP.

 

At least I have a fallback position. A long time friend has told me he wants to buy the car from me whenever I want to sell it. I would guess at for something between trade in and private party pricing (but at least I could avoid the hassle of listing it, or figuring I'm being taken by a dealership).

The downside to this arrangement is he keeps on telling me I ought to just leave it in the garage and depreciate. Not to drive it and put miles on it.

 

Just an update. Looks like I have finally sold the car. Took over 2 months but didn't cost me a penny (thanks Craigslist) The buyer has been approved for the loan and he hired an inspector to poke/prod/drive/test the car today. He reported to the buyer that it was one of the nicest used cars he had ever seen! The final price is $22500. Which is right at my payoff so that's fine.

 

Try AutoTrader.com....that where my better half purchased da' G35...3 months ago. http://www.autotrader.com/
On craigslist...u would need to list your ad every week to get more exposure.
Good Luck!

 

AutoTrader is good, but doesn't seem to have nearly as many private party cars as it used to.

There's also cars.com and yahoo.