I know the following information has been posted from time to time on various TUG forums but I'll repeat it here in case you missed it.
We rent a car in Ft. Lauderdale from Hertz each year for up to a month. (We own 4 back-to-back timeshare weeks at one resort). Instead of renting the car at the airport, we reserve one to be picked up at a hotel location about 5 miles outside of the airport. Thus we are not charged all of the extra nonsense taxes, facility fees, etc. that are added on when a rental car is picked up at an airport location. (However, you cannot arrive via the rental company's free van, nor call for a free pick-up. Take a taxi or car service).
The savings is significant. The price we found for an intermediate size car for 4 weeks (using AARP or Costco or a similar discount code) was $1475. if we picked it up at the airport. But by picking up the exact same vehicle at a nearby off-airport location, we paid $740.. Also the price for a month is the same as for four weeks. So you can rent it for up to 30 days, if needed, at the same price as the four week/28 day price.
The good news is that the car can be returned directly to the airport location without incurring any extra charges.
Make sure, however, that the off airport location will be open at the time you plan to arrive. Many close at 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Monday thru Friday and sometimes earlier on Saturday. A few are even closed on Sunday. We usually make two separate reservations, a day apart. So if we arrive late on the planned date, we take a shuttle or taxi to our timeshare and then call Hertz the next day for their free pick-up service to the rental location.
So far there is no charge or repercussions if you fail to show up for a reservation. But we call the "800" number as a courtesy, or cancel on-line the same day, even if it is after the location has closed.
We find that Hertz has very similar rates to Alamo, National, and Enterprise. We used to use whichever one was the cheapest, thinking that there was no real difference between them. That was probably the case for many years. However, after dealing with two totally false damage allegations made by Alamo in two years (which we disputed and won), we will never again do business with that company. Do a google search for "Alamo complaints" and you will read hundreds of horror stories. Further research revealed that Alamo, National, and Enterprise are owned by the same company. Hence we avoid all three of them like the plaque.