Your friend was probably the victim of a recently revoked no-tolerance law D.C. had. Under that law, the presense of any alcohol including levels as low as .005 were considered DUI offenses. Pretty much meant that if you had used mouthwash in the last hour, don't drive!

Actually CA has that too or something similar?

I have a biz colleague who was run off the road by a drunk driver, called AAA for road service, who called the CA police cuz my colleague was so upset about being run off the road, and the police when they arrived asked the colleague if she had been drinking, and she said yes, had 2 glasses of wine w/ dinner (over a few hours). They did the breathalyzer thingy & though she was UNDER the limit, she got arrested/ticketed (cuz they couldn't find the drunk driver) for something lesser than DUI cuz they just assumed she had been at fault. But they told her if she had managed to get the license plate of the truck that ran her off the road (yeah, while she was trying to save her life/control the car), she wouldn't have gotten arrested!

Maybe it was that DWAI thingy???

But she's been able to rent cars since then, so don't know how that impacts car rentals when it's lesser than DUI.

Cheers.

I don't think they recheck frequent corporate renters often, if at all. I've known others who got away with it. OTOH, a first time 25 year old renter is going to be scrutinized much more closely.

I spoke with my son last night and told him his options. His fiancee will check today whether her employer has an arrangement with a rental car firm for travelling employees. If not, her employer is a large auto insurer, and may have an arrangement for customers (she is one as well). She knows people at the local Enterprise station and will try to find out from them what their policy is. My son likes all this better than the Fox option, especially since they will be touring Napa and she would be the default designated driver, and he would be free to taste to his hearts content.

Postscript: My son ended up renting from Hertz. I have no idea how he passed muster but he did. He has been renting from Enterprise locally as well.