It has been conventional wisdom for many years that one should not drive outside major cities at night in India. This is still correct in most cases, but the Delhi-Agra road is now a good road, generally well-lit and largely pothole-free, so conventional wisdom is less applicable. Of course visibility is lower at night, but traffic is lighter too.

But Hertz? One of the things that makes India so difficult for newbies is that there are multiple prices for everything, determined not so much by the quality of the product but by who is buying it. Hertz is priced for the tourist who wants the comfort of the familiar---who (for the same reason) carries dollars rather than local currency. The same franchisee will sell the same service without the brand name for much less to others.