Hello all,
My company requires me to reserve the cheapest class of car (economy), and I am a President's Circle member. In the past, I'd say 80 or so rental experiences I have gone to Gold Choice area without a problem and picked out any car in the area. Tuesday at EWR (and I have rented at EWR about 30 prior times), the lady tells me she'll let me slide but I really need to rent a midsize to pick a car from Gold Choice area.
I called Hertz to get clarification, and they are uncertain. I found this statement on their website, which appears to say, I think I am entitled to Gold Choice as Pres Cir member.

What if I am a President’s Circle or Five Star Gold member?
President’s Circle members are automatically allocated a one car class upgrade from what they reserved, and Five Star members will be given an upgrade whenever available. But you can still select something from the Gold Choice area if you see something you prefer.

It seems to me, while they don't specify what class of car rented, the Hertz agent was wrong. Now on the same Hertz webpage, it does state, in general that yes, you must rent midsize or better to use Gold Choice, but then they have another separate section, with Q and As, which is where I found the above statement.
It seems you could almost justify by the transitive property from Geometry class, A>B>C A>C. Pres Circle guarantees you a one class upgrade, with that upgrade, I have the "midsize" or intermediate car Gold Choice requires, then I can use Gold Choice.
Please give me your thoughts. I realize YMMV on this, but not having any issues for almost 2 yrs, makes me believe this particular agent was wrong, or having a bad day.
Thanks