California Holiday

Palm Springs is an easy drive from SD or LA. Turning it into a triangle adding Orange County would be a fun loop. JT around 40-60 mins from Palm Springs, both of which are fantastic.

the other thing I’d reccomend is flying in and out of different places, with open jaw flights and a 1-way car rental. Not the absolute cheapest way of doing things, but flights are often roughly the same price as a return and 1-way car rental from one of the big players (avis et al) can be as little as a tenner more than returning to the same place. Saves a lot of time if you’re thinking of a large itinerary

Kayak does a ‘nearby’ locations checkbox for car rental search too. I went 40km out of San Diego in a Uber to Carlsbad and saved $800 in car rental from one of the majors. Tiddy airport too so in and out in no time, dropped off in down town San Francisco

I’ve always done car rental with Auto Europe.

You can cancel and adjust even if it gets cheaper right up to the date.