Service varies by location, and that's true for all car companies. For big airports, #1 Club Gold and Emerald Aisle are usually the fastest from gate to road. Part of the reason is that Hertz and National usually operate more buses than Alamo, Dollar, Thrifty, Avis, etc. In places where car renters board a shared (airport owned) bus (e.g., DFW, MSP), I also consider Quicksilver by Alamo a decent product. My only problem with Alamo is that a lot of locations do not dedicate personnel to serving Quicksilver members, meaning that if you don't like the car that was assigned to you, it's either stand in line or tough cookies.
As far as FF miles go, I'm still waiting for some AA miles to post from Hertz from a month and a half ago. I only want the fifty miles or whatever for the partner promo.
Generally, you are better off with Hertz ZE1 points or Budget's Perfect Drive points. Not only do you earn five to seven times more value per dollar than FF miles, but the points actually post quickly.