if a car is worth 4k private, it will be up for 5 on the forecourt and up for 5.5 - 6k if they are offering a grand for any trade in.

Buy private and flog yours off for a couple of hundred.

It will be worth a tonne as a scrapa weighed in.

If you buy private you have more room to haggle and get a bargain.

The upside is that as yours insn't worth a great deal, you can rag that around until the right car pops up - they always do if you have patients.