Social media test: Who can make my rental car journey happen?

As a social media proponent, online contact forms and 800 numbers don’t provide the personal touch and transparent answers I crave in interactions with companies, so this blog post is a test, to see who’s out there listening (and who’s responsive).

I have a rental car need that shouldn’t be too difficult to satisfy. I’m flying to San Francisco to visit my sister before Thanksgiving, and would like to drive with her down to San Diego to see the rest of my family. I’m flying out of San Diego, so it would be a one-way drive, and I want to do it in one day to avoid paying for multiple days of renting (especially because the price goes way up for one-way rentals).

I initiated online quotes with Alamo, Enterprise, Hertz, and National – all companies I have a discount with – but the online systems leave so many questions:

• The pick-up and drop-off times vary by location. How can I figure out which location(s) will make it possible to make the drive in one day?
• I’m not familiar with these companies’ policies, so I don’t know if they do after-hours drop offs, or if a one-day rental constitutes a business day, or 24 full hours.
• I’d like an economy or hybrid vehicle, but I can’t tell which cars will be available.

I really need a human to guide me through this unfamiliar territory, so I’m curious which of the rental car companies monitor social media, and which are willing to offer personal customer service to make this trip work.

So basically the question I’m posing is: Can I make this roughly 500-mile California drive in one day, and with whom and how can I do it?

Thank you to any company that can help! (You can e-mail me, or find me on Twitter.)

Additional details:

• As I won’t have a car in San Fran, any rental location near public transportation would be helpful.
• I’m not driving all the way to downtown San Diego (unless I have to), and I’ll probably be on I-15 to avoid Los Angeles, so any drop-off point in Escondido or Poway, CA would work too.

Extra search keywords to help companies find this: Budget Dollar Thrifty Rent A Car

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Tagged with alamo, budget, california, car, dollar, enterprise, hertz, national, rent, rent a car, rental, thrifty, trip