Its not that hard to redeem for free car rentals. Login to your account online and click on the link over how many points you have with Hertz. That link will take you to a page where you can start redeeming points for car rentals.

If you want to make a reservation at moment, click on the button for redeem & reserve now. That will pull up a bunch of redemption options. Hertz classifies awards based on free upgrades and free car rentals. The car rentals are of varying length, car class, one way or regular and peak or non-peak days/weeks.

Hertz has a limited number of blackout dates, and you will have to pay double to redeem for peak days/weeks. There is a link at the bottom of the page listing the blackout dates by location.

To the OP: You were probably confused by the Hertz phone representatives in trying to redeem an award. As a gold (actually 5* member now - I must call for a status update), I have not been impressed by the general knowledge of some of Hertz's phone reps.