If you hire cars more than once during a year, you might want to consider buying an annual excess insurance cover policy through a company like insurance4carhire.com. I have done for a few years now and it just gives me the peace of mind that even if I ding the hire car, I would be refunded any excess the car hire suppliers charge me. It currently costs £49 for a year's cover in Europe but it also covers the bits that the normal car hire supplier's CDW insurance doesn't like the underbody, windows, tyres etc.

Ref the fuel policy, Hertz certainly don't charge for fuel used or make you pay for a full tank at an inflated price up-front either. You just have to bring the car back with the same level of fuel in the tank as when you picked it up. The downside is that they may not always be as cheap as some other suppliers but they do normally have a counter in the airport terminals so there is no need to be driven off-site to pick the car up at least.