We’re obviously hearing only one side of the story here.
As a (former) instructor that has probably done a couple of hundred rental checkouts I can tell you there’s more here.
This sounds mostly like a breakdown in communication.
The airplane doesn’t belong to you and neither does it belong to me.
The replacement value of a new C172SP is about $275,000.
Forget about insurance for a moment, that is more then a house for most people.
An older model will go for about what you can buy a used Bentley for.
We have no obligation to rent to you.
We do have the obligation to make sure you are safe to rent.
Maybe he felt you needed 10 degr of flap because of the runway remaining or lack thereof or obstacles in the climb out path.
Maybe he felt like being helpful in turning your landing or taxi lights on as you were entering the runway and you forgot.
Maybe he turned off the nav lights that you mistakenly turned on.
No offenses, if you needed as much “interference” as you said occurred maybe you should not have been signed off for rental.
You soloed a year ago by your own admission a couple of posts back.
We have no idea how much you’ve flown recently (30-60-90-180 days?)
Getting your private pilot license doesn’t mean you’re to stop learning.
You made the right decision in flying with an instructor to familiarize yourself with a new area. Be humble and don’t expect perfection.
Did you bother asking him why he “interfered” so much?
Lot of places make the mistake of letting inexperienced instructors do rental checkouts. Big mistake, the most experienced should do that.
So maybe he was inexperienced and jumping the gun a little.
Maybe he was horrible.
Doubtful.