Arbitration is free. The $200 fee that the consumer pays to start the process is always repaid by the company, regardless of the outcome of the arbitration.
Quite literally, I can fill out the AAA consumer arbitration form in 10 minutes, make 2 copies of it, mail one to AAA, one to the company (Hertz) and keep one for myself.
It is just name and address of both parties, and 3 lines for the basic claim
Violation of your state version of the Consumer Protection Act is enough for the "claim".
No details required at this point. There are only 3 lines provided on the form, so no details needed.

If you try small claims court, that is significantly cheaper for the company. There are no $4,900 in arbitration fees. You then lose your leverage to get the settlement you want.
The purpose of sending them the AAA claim form is because there is no way for the company to avoid the AAA fees.
They agreed to pay those $4,900 in arbitration fees in the terms (TOS) of the contract.
Also, they typically have an outside law firm handle the arbitration process, so their expenses are likely well over $10,000+ with their lawyer included.

Always demand an in-person hearing in your location county.
That is a requirement that you can demand in arbitration, forcing the company to hire a law firm where you live or pay their lawyer to travel.

If your dispute is merely about some amount of money worth $1,000 to $4,000 then it makes zero financial sense for them to pay the arbitration fees and their outside law firm.

For example, if Hertz tries to stick you with scam repair bills hoping you will just have your credit card insurance reimburse you, then arbitration is excellent.
Also, if you refuse to pay, the rental car company might try to add you to their dreaded Do Not Rent (DNR) list.
Arbitration negotiations result in a settlement agreement. You can include a clause that requires them to remove you from the DNR list or require that they not retaliate against you with the DNR list.
We did arbitration versus Dollar Car Rental for my brother-in-law, which was handled by the Hertz legal department in Estero Florida.
They caved immediately and as a penalty we got a full refund of even the legitimate auto rental charges. So they had a 3 week free car rental.

Small claims court does not provide any of that leverage, which is why I don't use it if I can find an arbitration clause.

Regarding Equifax, it is easy enough to add a claim related to their website paid service so that the arbitration clause does apply.
The lawyers always try to argue that the arbitration clause does not apply. But that is easy to dispose of the argument.
If it is an issue for the arbitrator to decide, then the company has to pay the $4,900 in fees first for the arbitrator to be assigned so they can rule on jurisdiction.
The arbitrator is typically some lawyer in your local county that the AAA pays $2,500 per day to handle the case.

https://www.equifax.com/terms/

The contract clearly states that FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) issues are not subject to the arbitration clause because Equifax prefers Federal Court.
So instead you make the claim sometime that is not FCRA related. I used my states Consumer Protection Act.
Therefore, since I was forcing arbitration for violation of the Florida Consumer Protection Act, Equifax does have to pay the $4,900 in fees.
The end result of that battle was, Equifax paid their $4,900 in fees, paid their lawyer some amount (I suspect $10,000+ based on the time spent)
and then in the end they still deleted the info in dispute on my credit file and paid me the $200 reimbursement for my arbitration fee.
All I had to do was respond to emails. It was easy. No trips to court, no complex court filings.

The key is to make a settlement offer at the beginning of the process.
Include a letter with the AAA form that you send to the company. In your letter, make it clear you are willing to resolve the issue for "X".
Either a refund, they do something (remove me from DNR list), waive their fake bills for damage, etc.
Whatever it is that your dispute is about, make it clear you will dismiss the arbitration, they can avoid the $4,900 in fees, if they settle early.
Most of the time, they will do so.