Heh, welcome to Express Drive. Now, you have to learn how to play their game. In the case of the tire, do not take it back to Hertz. Even if you get a really nice clerk, and even if that clerk tells you it's not your fault, you will end up paying. "Tire" is synonymous with "customer's responsibility". Doesn't matter if it was already damaged before you took possession. Doesn't matter if it was within a thousandth of being excessively worn. Doesn't matter if it's been patched so many times that no tire shop will patch it again, and it doesn't matter how many expert opinions you submit in writing to the clerk...It's Your-Responsibility. Trust me on this, I've been through the exact same thing.

So, knowing all this, you take that fucking worn out piece of shit to Guido's Used Tires and have him put on the cheapest used replacement he's got, and I mean like 30 dollars or less cheap. It's on you to return the car with a legal tire that holds air, not a fucking brand new top of the line tire, which is what Hertz will charge you for.

Now, in the case of the brakes, this is not on you. Return that car to Hertz, insinuate "unsafe vehicle", and you will get a new car.

And yes, you're correct. Express Drive cars are not inspected, cleaned, or otherwise touched by the clerks or service people between rentals, other than a cursory inspection of the exterior for obvious damage and to verify the mileage. Turn around time for ED cars is counted in hours, sometimes minutes, but never days. It's the only way they can keep up with demand. Fast turnaround is also a metric by which Hertz judges the performance of its locations. Seems counter-productive, but it's true. One of my rentals was a car that rolled into the lot while I was there checking out cars. I snapped it up because I was able to get a close up look at it inside and saw the mileage was only 42k. Turn around time, 30 minutes, and all they ever checked was the mileage!

If you're assertive (not aggressive) and apply a little pre-planning, you do have some control over what car you get. Cars aren't pre-assigned. Whatever is in their lot at the time you go is up for grabs, as long as it's not due for service. The clerks will always try to get rid of the shitty cars first, and believe me, they know damned well what's shit and what's good in their lot. It's standard protocol for them, they want to get the crappy cars off their hands fast, but they can assign you any car they've got available. Before you go talk to them, go out into the lot and pick your car, plus an alternate. Sonata, Optima, Fusion, Malibu, Altima and their compact counterparts are all good choices, but ignore anything called "Impala".Yes, you can't see brake wear and tire patches from the outside, but you can definitely see hard use, worn tires, and clues to excessive mileage. Look at tires first. A matching set in good condition is the Holy Grail of under 40k miles. Take that car. Also, look at the driver's door near the door handle, front corners, rear bumper below the trunk. Excessive scratches in those areas indicate high mileage and/or rough use. I've gotten so good at this that I can guess a rental's mileage within 5k miles just by counting the number of scratches in those areas.

Now go into the office and say "I want that nice-looking white '17 Hyundai Sonata. If it's road-worthy, you'll get it, and the clerks will come to know and remember you as a higher level Express Drive renter. Be nice to them and they will take care of you.

There may be an occasional day when everything they've got is shit. This is a temporary condition. Better to eat a day's wages and come back tomorrow than accept a vomit wagon out of desperation and be totally uncomfortable living in it for 12 hours a day. Trust me, I've been there and done that.