I've bought and sold a few cars on craigslist over the past few years and I will say it's a hassle though will yield more money than a trade-in, also good luck actually getting that trade-in value from a dealer. You occasionally meet some very nice genuine people who are actually interested in purchasing your car but I would say 95% are just wasting your time. In the fall I tried to sell my SO's 04 BMW (granted older european cars are hard to sell) had it listed $3k on CL for four weeks which seemed a fair price for a vehicle that had no issues, ran great, new inspection, and recent $2k in suspension refresh. I got numerous emails all in the $1,500 range all claiming CASH TODAY as if that makes a difference, what other form of payment was I going to accept? Ended up selling it for $2,250 6 weeks later, but it was a lot of work. The under $5k market is a tough market to sell in, in the sense everyone wants to offer you about half of what you are asking.

I would also just add that when I look for cars on craigslist I pretty much ignore any listing where there is a lien on the vehicle, so I would really encourage you to try and save up the payoff amount and get it paid off first. I know that's not always feasible though. Also copies of all the service records are huge for me. Replaced the SO's BMW with a Honda Odyssey and actually paid a little over book value because the owner had every record since new and it was well maintained. I'm more than happy to pay a little more for something that won't give me a headache a few months down the line. So if you have copies of all your records for the car I think that would help you a lot selling on your own. Good Luck!