Exactly. But the thing to remember is that you need to ask.

If your contract is pre-printed, then it'll likely have a time on it either matching the pickup time you reserved, or some fixed time after that depending on the location (I've seen 30 mins, 45 mins, or 60 mins later). If you simply accept that and drive away, that time is the one that applies.

However a quick trip to the booth will get the time updated to the current time.

Common at smaller airports where there isn't an exit booth. Normally you'll pickup the contract and keys at the booth, and it's not uncommon for it to be pre-printed.

I also was at one airport last year (no idea where) that had a common exit booth for all companies, so the contract/keys were in the car, and at the exit they checked that the contract matched the license.

Of course if you change your reservation, you have a new return time. However, that may trigger a rate change. Unlikely, but it could happen.

what are yall talking about?

if you pick up a car at 10pm for 1 day it's due back at 10pm unless location is closed before then...who the hell charges late fees if it's brought back less than 24 hours but past the booked time? this has never happened to me with any rental car with any company anywhere in the world

exception to this is weekend rate where you're dropping on a tuesday past 1200 or something, but they wouldn't ding if brought back at 1230 or 1300 or something

but otherwise just chill, it's a 24 hour rental

yeah this happened to me

so i said "hey it says here my pickup is at 9 but it's now 1030"
and she say "yeah it's chill we log you going out so invoice will update"

sure enough final invoice reflected the time i left the lot and the time the agent with the handheld pda scanned the barcode on my car at 1015 or something

This. You are fully entitled to request the "time out" on the contract be adjusted to your actual time out, and if you do that, you have until that time+29 minutes on the day of your return to return without any additional fee.

It's always wise to take a look at your rental paperwork before leaving the lot, and this is one of the things to take note of when you do.

The return time shown on your reservation (or printed on your outgoing rental contract) does not matter at all. The only thing that matters is your actual time out as printed on the contract as compared to your actual time in when you do return the car.

Note that whilst this is true for Hertz, it is NOT true for all companies. Avis have a $10 fee if you return your car more than 7 hours from the stated return time - even if it's still within the same number of 24 hours periods.