When going about selling a car, if the intent is just to sell it
outright, which way is best, when only considering the price: selling
to a dealer, or selling directly to a consumer? The caveat: there is
some minor damage to the body of the car (dents and scratches). I
don't know whether this would affect the dealer's price more than the
layman's price.

The Kelly Bluebook folks have an entire website on how to sell your
used car.
http://sell-my-your-used-car-by-selling-for-a-auto-seller.com/r-kellybluebook.html

While it refers to selling online, most of their advice applies to
selling "off line" too.

You'll be able to compare dealer prices to private party prices and
will see that "minor damage" generally has more effect on dealer
prices.

Just go through the pricing process at the site, and you should be
able to decide which type of sale is best for your car.

There is also a good article, "Trade In or Sell" at MSN Carpoint
http://carpoint.msn.com/advice/articles/tradeorsell.asp

Search terms: sell used car dealer private

Good luck.
Nellie Bly