That's bizarre. The good news is that he shouldn't have any problem with Hertz - and Hertz has plenty of neighborhood locations to pick from. I've done a lot of HLE rentals over the years where we put 1200-1500 miles on the car for a weekly rate that's about $120 all in for a Camry or Taurus. I've also done a few where we've gone about 800 in a weekend for about $50 all in with coupons.

I figure it's all a wash in the end. I get my money's worth on these rentals. Hertz gets me back when I rent for 2 days every other week in Seattle, drive about 75 miles, and pay $50/day base ($140+ all in) for a Corolla or Pontiac. I do more of those than I do long roadtrips in Hertz cars.

Note that some third-tier agencies do slap mileage restrictions on you if you are renting with an in-state DL or - in some cases - a bordering state DL. I learned that a few years back when I decided to jump on a $69/wk. offer from Payless at MCI. (Yes, I realize now that this was a stupid idea to begin with.) My reservation stated unlimited miles, but when I showed a Kansas DL at pickup, they refused to rent unless I accepted a 150 mi./day restriction. I didn't need to drive 1000 miles that week so I accepted, but I still thought it was a dirty practice. At booking-time, they had my address information, and they quoted unlimited miles. Then they did the switcharoo at pickup.

Anyway, I'm surprised National immediately put your buddy on the no-rent list instead of either (a) warning him that he was violating some sort of global rule they have about high-mileage driving or (b) slapping a mileage limit on him. I know for a fact that both National and Alamo have the capability of issuing limited-mileage rentals.