Trade in is definately not the way to go. You can look anywhere and you will see that the trade in value of a car is not the same as the value you can sell it at. Trade in is for the lazy people that don't want the trouble of selling the car themselves and want the dealer to do it for them, so of course the dealer will "charge" for that service. Definately worth to spend the few bucks to advertise the car and sell it yourself. You will never get the true value of the car if you trade in.