In Kauai now.
Long story but we ended up arriving 2.5 days earlier than intended; all rental cars were sold out on all apps/services except for very expensive midsizes at Thrifty and insane expensive elite SUVs at Avis. We booked Thrifty for 2 days, and had our original Hertz reservations waiting for us for Sunday as planned.
Thrifty: like i said, all they had available were mid-size sedans at very high rates, so i was laughing when I got to the Thrifty/Dollar lot to see tons and tons of cars, clean and waiting, and even more waiting to be serviced. There were lots of people in line arguing over different thing, but the most wonderful guy helped us out and put us in a Kia Optima (upgrade), which.... had ants crawling all over the front dash. The crew could not have been more helpfuli/friendly, immediately swapping the car out of the lot and then putting us in a very beat up 2020 Malibu (double upgrade, even if junk). Return was delightfully easy and everyone at this branch was so chill and friendly, it was a pleasure paying many hundreds of dollars to drive a dented Malibu with 18k miles on it for a few days.
Hertz: we then went over to Hertz to pick up our initial reservation, and found a very long line. We had booked a full size for a solid rate using AmEx Platinum, but also reserved a Premium for a higher rate in case we were given some old 2018 nonsense. As soon as we got to the long line, we were asked if we were Gold, and handed our contract with a parking space written on it, and sent on our way. Pretty quick and incredible service- BUT they automatically gave us the Premium rate. I asked what would be available at the much lower full size rate, and was told that would require waiting on the endless line, and besides, there was "slim pickings" beyond what had already been assigned.
Although the fact that I was automatically shoved into the more expensive res was aggravating, the latter part was true: the lot consisted of (i) what looked like Chevy Blazers and Nissan Rogues/Pathfinders being cleaned; (ii) a million of those low end Dodge/Chrysler minivans; and (iii) an Altima, an Optima or two, and the 2019 Impala with 24k miles that I was assigned. Its a boat and exactly the kinda "premium car" i'd pass on to get a regular full size, but given the long line and hot sun, we jumped in and were outta there in 4 minutes. It drives OK, though I am dreading the gas bill come end of the week-- I havent seen a single pump on this island with gas for less than $4.55/gallon.