You average used car buyer will run from a car that has one accident on the car fax.
With a car that has two they will run so fast there will be a sonic boom.
Just for shits and giggles I looked it up on Kelly Blue book.com.
Now I don’t know the exact equipment on the car but pricing it as a private party with a fair condition it gave me $2,474. The following notes
Requires some mechanical repairs, but is in reasonable running condition
AND
Clean title history
Now it is open for discussion but based on the OP I will argue that it needs more than “some” repairs
And the OP’s Xterra does not have a clean title history.
So that puts us squarely in the poor condition category.
I stand by my comments
If you can find someone that will pay 4-6 kilo bucks for this sled send me their name. I have this big orange bridge in San Francisco I would like to sell them.
Probably not this one. But $1500-2k is in the range, and alot more than $500.
Maybe we are both right! 
Hey, OP! Let us know what the dealer offered you, please?
Let’s split the difference and say we can get 1750 for the car
Ok let’s do the math
Trade in. 500
Repair AC 600
Other repairs 200
Smog & safety and oil change 150
Detail 100
Saleaman’s commission 50-100
We now have a cost of $1650 for a car we might get 1,750 for.
At every dealer I have ever worked for this car would go straight to auction where we might make a hundred or lose a hundred or two.
The bottom line is it’s a $500 car. Tops.
Sell it “Private Party As Is” and do* none *of that stuff. Get $1500-2k.
Far better than a dealer trade offer.** (I am labouring under the assumption that the dealer offered $500)**
I would really like to hear from WhatsherName to find out what the dealer offered in trade.
Some of the dealers I worked for (motorcycle, not cars) would record trades at “Zero” and tuck it all up in the financing, so the mark, I mean “buyer” wouldn’t know the difference.
My point: Trades are an absolute Butt-Fuck.
As one who gets very attached to cars I have learned that when it’s time to let go, just get it over with. I traded in my beloved Mazda Protege 5 last year for a new Mazda 9 as I got married and between my wife’s kids and mine we needed a bigger car. I am not ashamed to say that I cried when I parked her for the last time and cleaned out the glove box. I saw so many memories I was leaving behind. Hell, when no one was looking I actually talked to her and thanked her for all the good times. Of course I have made new memories with the 9. No need to feel weird about becoming attached to a car, now go get your Jeep and have a great time with it!
Justt got my new truck last night. I didn’t trade in the ranger because the dealer wouldn’t even consider it. I like the new one, but I really don’t want to let go of the ranger either. The new truck is so quiet I can’t even tell if it’s running, the ranger is a real truck - it rumbles, it roars, it’s got POWER! It also has @270,000 miles, needs a new transmission, the gas tank cleaned, new bushings (wevertf they are), new muffler, new tailpipes, and there is an oil leak, power steering fluid leak, and a short in the headlight switch. The previous owner may take it back - it has sentimental value and I know it will have a good home. Otherwise I will donate to VoTech. If they won’t take it, then it’s onto the …junk yard. It’s so stupid to be so attached to an object, but I love my old truck.
I’m very, very sad about trading my car in and need a hug
It gets easier the more you do it.
**I’m very, very sad about trading my car in and need a hug **
In a couple of years you are going to be soo happy to get rid of that Jeep Grand Cherokee that you will look back on this thread and laugh.
Start saving for continual repairs now. The transmission will go first, thats only a couple thousand dollars and you think that will be it, but wait, there’s more!
So let me see if I understand this.
If the dealer pays say $500 for the car they can wholesale it and maybe make a hundred or two. Or they can spend money and recon it and again stand to make or lose a hundred or two. And that is a butt fuck.
But on the other hand if the current owner finds a [del]pigeon [/del] [del]mark[/del] [del]sucker [/del] [del]poor bastard [/del] err buyer it is perfectly OK to bury that SOB so far under water that they are guaranteed to lose their ass, that is perfectly OK.
Interesting ethics.
As others have pointed ot, your truck is almost worthless. If you sell to a private party (and the truck dies the next day), you are in for trouble. There are many states that provide for a buyer to get his money back.
Quite simply, your truck is well past its lifespan-and anything could fail tomorrow. On the other hand, it could last another 50,000 miles-but who knows?
Hi Gato: I got $4k for the XTerra; I took it to a mechanic the day after I wrote the post and she was . . . very ill. Head gasket, master cylinder, compressor, broken strut (or bearings?) on one side, water pump, and timing belt thingy teeth broken. So the $4k was actually above the KBB trade-in for “Fair,” though I had to fight for it (of course!)
And this was a car I took relatively good care of! Issues with selling it myself were that I didn’t want to fix it, couldn’t sell it in good conscience without fixing, and I live alone in a nice 'hood in a tough city – not eager to have strangers come over and test drive.
I got the Jeep . . .
I couldn’t live through another New Jersey summer without AC. I almost died last summer (I’m a transplanted Californian = humidity murders me).
There’s only a few states where you have any recourse if you buy a used car from a dealer and it immediately craps out, and I’m not aware of any states where there’s any recourse for a private party sale.
Massachusetts has very strong lemon laws. Any private party sale is subject to them. That means the car must pass state inspection, and is warrantied for 30 days.
Thanks for hugs, un-hugs :p, and discussions. I’ll try to answer the questions I remember:
-See above for the mechanical report on the Nissan (she was very ill, unless the mechanic was crooked).
-I live alone in a tough city, so making a few extra $ selling it myself didn’t offset the uncomfortable aspect of having strange guys come over for test drives. I also wasn’t going to fix the Nissan and couldn’t do a personal sale in good conscience.
-I went to three dealerships and got trade-in offers for $1,000, $2,200, and $3,000
-I had my own financing for the difference
-I consulted my brother and two of his friends, all of whom had owned XTerras that all died around 125K with the same sorts of problems mine had; bro and one guy bought Grand Cherokees and love them. My bro is an Arizona state biologist and drives his straight up and down the Grand Canyon (not literally, but he could be in 4x4 car advertisements)
-I read consumer reports on the Jeep and came up with an 8.8% reliability/average repair bills. I know it could still suck and blow up tomorrow, but then again the Nissan had excellent consumer reports.
-The $3k trade-in place had the Jeep I liked best (and a really cool salesguy); I talked them up to $4k on the trade-in AND their mechanic looked the Nissan over for a long time. They didn’t ask about accidents/CarFax, so I didn’t say anything. The accidents were in '2002 and 2003 – did CF exist then?
-So, I have a lovely dark red 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4x4 Laredo that was a lease return and is as immaculate as a new car for $9,400
-Drawback is that she’s a V-8 with a huge engine and is a gas guzzler; brother said that’s probably why they came up so much on the trade-in b/c they are difficult to sell in this economy. However, I drive about 4,800 miles a year (really!) so the gas won’t kill me.
-Other drawback is that I have to buy a whole rack system in order to mount my Thule kayak J-racks; I may also have to buy step-ups so I can reach the kayak. The Xterra came with fantastic rack system and steps. Are these called step rails?
-I think this answers everything? I had my cryfest with the XTerra, took a few mementos and some pics, and had a great sense of relief when I drove Jeep to work yesterday and realized I didn’t freak out driving the highway sections that don’t have a breakdown shoulder (especially over the Delaware River, eek).
Phew!
And two more good things I just thought of:
-The Xterra was a 2WD and was horrible – comically, tragically, horrible - in snow. A non-issue in Southern California, but terrifying in Ohio, PA, and New Jersey (no real snow this year, but last year was snowmaggedon).
-My insurance went up just $64 per six months. Weird!
Most states have something similarly worded to that, but the gigantic caveat is the “and can prove that the seller knew about the defect but failed to disclose it” part. Unless it’s something that has obviously and recently been covered up, it’s pretty damn hard to prove that a seller knew about a problem, especially if it’s something that doesn’t manifest itself until later. It only really applies if you’re intentionally trying to scam someone. That’s not quite the same as having to fix ANY non-disclosed problems that develop within X days or refund the money, which is the rule for dealers in a few states.
Based on what you posted I’m waiting for all the people to come in and tell you how the dealer butt fucked you. 
Sounds like you did real good, enjoy the new ride.
Nope. She done good! Except buying the Jeep part.
Best Wishes!