They serve a niche purpose for me:
I can usually score some pretty decent rates with various CDP's that, when coupled with Cap1 miles for travel purchase offsets, makes my rental car cost negligible.
And, Presidents Circle status has fielded me some nice upgraded rides and saved my hide once or twice in sold out situations.

Sure, I could reserve thru National and still use Cap1 miles to offset, but the initial reservation cost has always been seemingly higher @ National.

So maybe $100-ish per reservation in savings, times a dozen rentals per year.... the savings outweigh the occasional headache of doing business with Hertz.

That said, their IT is and absolute joke and the fact that I have to walk inside for a hard copy receipt at return to insure against the car theft debacles is also laughable.
But, those hassles are seemingly within my "acceptable headaches" allowance given the savings.

Will it get better? Maybe.
Can it get worse? Absolutely.

Ride it while you can and then switch when it is no longer something you want to deal with.
All the car rental companies do status match so why stay captive if you ever get TOO fed up with Hertz.