Hertz Car Audio FAQ: Rental Locations, Polk SL2000 Tweeter Swaps, Microfiber Towels, and Skid Plate Questions

I run purchasing for a 14-person car audio and accessory shop. About $160,000 a year goes through my desk — across 8 vendor accounts — and I report to both operations and finance. I'm not a master installer, so I won't pretend to know every wire gauge or crossover slope. But I've bought enough gear and watched enough installs to know what causes comebacks.

These are the questions we get over and over, from customers, from installers, and from my own search history.

1. Is the Hertz that makes car audio the same Hertz as the rental company?
2. Is Hertz Car Sales Orlando an audio dealer?
3. Can I swap a Polk SL2000 tweeter for a Hertz tweeter?
4. Why do people search "microfiber towel close up fibers"?
5. Can I drive with skid plate dragging?
6. What does Hertz car audio mean for a dealer/installer?
7. Is rush shipping ever worth it for a shop?

1. Is the Hertz that makes car audio the same Hertz as the rental company?

No. This is the biggest mix-up on the internet. The Hertz that rents cars is Hertz Global Holdings — the company behind all those hertz car rental locations at airports and city centers. The Hertz that makes car audio is an Italian-designed brand, part of Elettromedia, known for component speakers, subwoofers, amplifiers, and DSPs. They are separate operations, not a sub-brand and not the same company. If you were actually looking for hertz car rental locations, use hertz.com and verify the address there (as of January 2025, that is still the right source). If you're tired of searching "hertz" and seeing rental counters, welcome — you're now in the right place.

2. Is Hertz Car Sales Orlando an audio dealer?

No. Hertz Car Sales Orlando is the rental company's used-car retail location. It sells ex-rental fleet vehicles — the kind with rental history and a lot of miles. It has nothing to do with Hertz car audio. If a customer buys a used Camry there and then searches for an audio shop, that's where we come in. But if you need Hertz car audio, don't call the car sales lot. You want an authorized Hertz audio distributor or a stocking dealer. The Orlando lot can tell you about a car's maintenance history; it cannot tell you about tweeter performance. I made that mistake once. Never again.

3. Can I swap a Polk SL2000 tweeter for a Hertz tweeter?

Sometimes yes, but "maybe" is the honest answer. The "polk sl2000 tweeter" was a common 1-inch silk dome design used in Polk's older component sets. Many current Hertz 1-inch tweeters are close in size, and with the right mounting ring they fit the same opening. But you can't rely on the hole size alone. Impedance matters. Sensitivity matters. The crossover matters even more. A replacement that's 3 dB more sensitive will sit forward in the mix and make vocals harsh. That's not a bad tweeter; it's a bad match. I'm not an electrical engineer, so I can't get into driver phase response. What I can tell you from a purchasing perspective is to order the correct mounting hardware and work with a distributor who accepts test-fit returns. At our shop, we measure before we promise.

4. Why do people search "microfiber towel close up fibers"?

Because a lot of people think any towel with "microfiber" on the label is the same. Look at a good microfiber towel close up, and you'll see split fibers — like tiny two-prong brooms. Those split fibers trap dirt, oil, and polish residue instead of dragging it across a surface. That's why a 400 GSM plush towel is safer on a painted A-pillar than a cheap rag. Now look at a cheap one close up: the fibers look smooth, almost like a solid sheet. Smooth fibers push contamination around and leave fine scratches. That phrase "microfiber towel close up fibers" shows up in our search logs because owners are trying to understand exactly this. At our shop, we use one color towel for interior screens, one for paint, and one for wheels. That has cut "streaks" comebacks more than any polish we've tried.

5. Can I drive with skid plate dragging?

No. Don't drive it. A dragging skid plate can take out an oil pan, a transmission pan, or a wiring harness. If a customer shows up with the rear edge of the plate scraping the ground, get it on a lift before doing anything else. The real query "can i drive with skid plate dragging" lands in our phone calls more often than you'd think — usually from someone who hit a curb on the way to an install and assumes a few blocks is fine. It isn't. A loose skid plate also creates a bad install environment: a new amp ground wire could chafe against it, or a fresh speaker wire could sit under a sharp edge. Fix the skid plate, re-torque the mounts, then start the install.

6. What does Hertz car audio mean for a dealer/installer?

For us, it means one brand that covers the whole customer spectrum. Hertz has entry-level coaxials, midrange component sets, and the high-end Mille line that I should not be trusted alone with. That breadth reduces our vendor count. It also makes purchasing easier for me: eight vendor relationships are already too many to manage casually, and consolidating audio orders through one distributor means fewer invoices and fewer mismatched part numbers. From the outside, it looks like just another speaker logo. The reality is that a full-line brand simplifies inventory, training, and warranty claims. It's not perfect — fitment still has to be verified on every vehicle. But here's something vendors won't tell you: published dealer pricing is rarely the final number once you show consistent volume. We didn't see better terms until we consolidated orders and let our rep see inventory turn data.

7. Is paying extra for guaranteed delivery ever worth it?

Yes, when a specific install is waiting on that part. In March 2024, we paid $148 for next-day freight on a DSP module because a customer's car was scheduled for a sound quality demo that Saturday. The cheaper option was $19 ground, due Tuesday. If we had missed that demo slot, the install bay would have sat idle, the customer would have lost a weekend, and the car would have gone home with a hole in the dash. That is not a $19 decision. That is a $148 decision to buy certainty. The formula I use: cost of delay = labor hours wasted + customer reputation + the awkward phone call. If that total is higher than the shipping bump, pay it. If it's a stock order for inventory — nobody waiting on it — standard shipping is fine. What most people don't realize is that "guaranteed" doesn't always mean "same day." Check the carrier cut-off time. Otherwise, you paid for certainty and still missed the window.