I just tried to change my pickup time to 2 hours earlier and was told I also had to go thru the entire reservation which raised my rate by $40. Huh???. I can do this with Hertz no problem and keep the same rate. Little ridiculous if you ask me.

That's the Avis policy. However, if you show up a bit early/late, it shouldn't be a problem (unless you're now coming in very near closing time and they expect you to no-show). In any case, call the station the day of and just give them a head's up when you're coming if it's a small station.

Ah, but rate change can go both ways! I routinely (on at least 80% of the time) am able to lower the rate on my Avis reservations by checking from 2 weeks out to 2 days out, every few days, and somewhere during that time the rate almost always drops (to below what it was when I reserved more than 2 weeks out). All I have to do, if I see the rates are lower, is to change something/anything about my reservation, and now I've got the new lower rate.

Does Hertz not let you do this? In that case, that's a little ridiculous if you ask me.

Ie, you can't have it both ways: At Avis, it works to your advantage if the rate is lower at the time you decide to make the change, but to your disadvantage if the rate is now higher. At Hertz, it apparenntly works to your advantage if the rate is higher at the time you decide to make the change, but to your disadvantage if the rate is now lower (because if you keep the same rate, you cannot lower the rate).

So in the long run, I prefer Avis's policy, because I see that the rate goes lower most of the time.

Having recently done this with Hertz (I changed my pickup time to two hours later), it asked me if i wanted to keep my original rate or, basically, change it to whatever the current rate was. So if you are keen and have checked the rates prior to rebooking, you can know which one to select. Or i think you could probably update to current rates, and if it's higher, just don't go through with it and keep your current pickup time and then go through it again selecting keep original rate.