Rental Cars and the Associated Anxieties

Do you know, I have never rented a rental car. It is possible that it is much, much easier than I expect. But because it is unexplored, it feels mysterious and difficult (and expensive). I am an anxious driver. I feel comfortable driving Toyotas, Subarus and, I imagine, Hondas (I have heard that Toyotas and Hondas are very similar). Can I…ask for that? Or do I have to take what I get? I have heard people complain that the car they’d reserved was not the one they got, which implies to me that (1) you CAN ask for what you want and (2) you may very well not get it. At every hotel we stayed at on our recent road trip, I asked in the Special Requests field for an extra towel (I like a separate towel for my hair), and there was never once an extra towel; this makes me think that Special Requests don’t even show up, or that “extra towel” is not something they expect to see in that field. New/unexpected costs tend to make me Panic and Freak Out. Examples: the astonishing extra taxes on a…