May 4, 2025 - This week, the price to rent the cheapest economy/compact car fell 22% from last week, to $169/week, just a few dollars more than the low prices of September 2023, during the travel ban that followed the Lahaina wildfires. Prices for other vehicles - mid-size, SUV, minivan, et cetera - were also down overall. Looking forward, advance prices have been softening. Two weeks ago, the price to reserve a car for Memorial Day was $383/week; last week it was down to $260/week, and this week it is even lower to $220/week for the same reservation. The picture for the Maui car rental market is utter and complete desperation for operators as they drop their prices almost lower than ever to compete for rentals.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO RENT A CAR IN MAUI ON MAY 5, 2025?

Every week, we list the lowest advertised prices for a one-week car rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), for a selection of vehicle categories, with the change from the previous week, and the company offering the best price. This is our overview of Maui car rental prices for the week of May 5, 2025.

Category Price Change Company
Economy $169 -22% Payless
Midsize $210 -17% Payless
Jeep $428 18% Alamo
Convertbl $426 -13% SiXT
SUV $225 -21% Payless
7 St SUV $319 -22% SiXT
Minivan $321 -10% Payless

Fig. 1. Rental car prices in Maui are in the off-season range going into May 2025.

For the week of Monday 5/5/2025, the lowest price for renting a car from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) for one week is $169/week from Payless. That's down 22% from last week. The lowest price for a midsize car is $210/week also from Payless. That's down 17% from last week. A Jeep is the only vehicle to go up in price this week, to $428/week at Alamo, up 18%. Convertibles fell 13$ to $426/week at SixT. The cheapest SUV prices were an astonishingly low $225/week, from Payless, down 22%. Minivan prices were down 10%, to $321/week, from Payless.

The price for nearly every vehicle type that we track is down this week. The only exception is with Jeeps, that have bounced up from the unusually low level they hit last week.

MAUI CAR RENTAL PRICE FORECAST FOR 5/5/25

Online reservation systems are showing prices trending upward from their current level. As of today, May 4, 2025, the lowest advertised prices for a one week rental made in advance, both from the airport rentals and off-airport, are as follows:

DATE OFF-OGG OGG
05/04/25 $160 $169
05/11/25 $168 $222
05/18/25 $165 $220
05/25/25 $159 $220
06/01/25 $180 $251
06/08/25 $180 $251

Fig. 2. Maui car rental prices from the last 13 months with forecast of the coming five weeks.

These advance reservation prices, marked as "Forecast," are illustrated in the area highlighted in Figure 3. They show a slight upward trend in prices taking place over the coming weeks.

In contrast, reviewing advance price movement over the last few weeks, it is clear that advance prices are softening. For example, for the Memorial Day holiday, a reservation made two weeks ago would have cost $383/week. Last week it was down to $260/week and this week it is down even lower, to $220/week.

It is likely that Memorial Day prices will fall even lower. Based on five years of price tracking and analysis, we expect prices tod ecline steadily as we move through May into June. The five-year average weekly price chart, with its low season range from May to md-June, is illustrated in Figure 3. Based on this data, it would not be surprising if prices move even lower, with no price bump for Memorial Day. Prices could be expected to continue to decline and not hit rock bottom until early June, when they start to rise again for the summer travel season.

Fig. 3. Maui Car Rental Prices: A historical price trend based on five years of averaged prices highlights low prices in April and May.

DOES IT COST LESS TO BOOK IN ADVANCE?

The difference between last-minute prices and advance reservation prices is an indicator of the state of supply and availability from the car rental providers. When supply is limited, last minute prices ratchet up from their advance levels. When there is over-supply, prices drop at the last minute. These changes follow a seasonal pattern that we covered in a blog post titled "When Is The Best Time To Rent A Car in Maui?" On average, based on five years of histori cal price data, the last minute price is lower than advance reservation prices nearly 90% of the time. The cross-over points from higher last minute prices to lower last minute prices mark the seasonal transitions from high season pricing to low season pricing (see Figure 4).

Fig. 4. Average cost trends for renting a car in Maui over five years show varying prices based on booking time: renting last-minute typically leads to lower rates, except for peak periods around Christmas and Presidents' day holidays. Booking at the last minute typically offers the most savings.

More recently, from mid-December of 2024, we have tracked the movement of advance booking prices as the reservation date approaches. For several weeks, from early January, prices were consistently ratcheting up in the days or weeks before the reservation date. Notably, for the six weeks from January 12 to February 17, the last minute price for an economy car from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) was on average $152/week more than the price one week in advance (see Figure 5), However, from late February until now, prices one week in advance or at the last minute have both stayed below the advance price booked five weeks in advance. This trend is expected to continue.

Advance reservation systems are showing an upward bump in price that coincides with the Memorial Day holiday at the end of May. However, as we mentioned already, we have been monitoring advance prices for that date, and they have dropped significantly already, The price for a Memorial day reservation was $383/week two weeks ago. One week ago, the price for the same reservation dropped to $260/week. Today it is down even further to $220/week - a savings of 43% on the price of the rental in just two weeks.

Based on the historical data that show prices steadily declining through the month of May, it is likely that Memorial Day prices will fall even further.

HOW MUCH WERE THE LAST-MINUTE SAVINGS FOR THIS WEEK?

For a rental beginning on this Monday, May 5 2025, the price booked five weeks in advance was $282/week. One week in advance, it was $222/week. And the last-minute price is down to an astonishingly low level of $169/week.

Advance Price Diff. % Saved
1 day $169
1 week $222 $53 24%
5 weeks $282 $113 40%

The savings from booking last minute were 24%compared one week in advance, and 43% lower compared to five weeks in advance. Definitely the best price was not available until the last minute. Note: these price movements apply only for the cheapest compact car category. The change may have been different for other vehicle categories.

For the coming weeks, our indicators are pointing to prices for last minute reservations continuing be lower than advance prices. Anyone with advance reservations should consider re-booking if their reservation terms allow it.

Figure 5. Price trends for a one-week car rental in Maui from December 2024 to May 2025 show variations based on booking timings: one day, one week, and five weeks in advance.

DOES IT COST LESS TO RENT OFF-AIRPORT?

Most of the time, Maui's off-airport car rental prices are lower than airport prices due to a number of factors that we have covered in a previous blog post, titled "Is It Cheaper to Rent a Car at the Airport in Maui? Updated for 2024." 

Throughout the past winter and spring season, we have seen a disruption of this pattern due to unexpected strong demand and limited supply at off-airport locations, with the off-airport prices in many cases higher than airport prices.

Fig. 6. Price of one-week car rental in Maui, comparing off-airport locations with airport locations for popular vehicle types.

This week, the normal pattern of prices lower off-airport is in effect for all vehicle types that are available from both locations. However, for convertibles and 7-seat SUV's, there is zero availability reported at off-airport locations.

These prices are from our survey taken on 5/5/25, for a one-week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), beginning on Monday, 4/28/25, for seven vehicle categories, Economy Car, Midsize Car, Convertible, Jeep, SUV, 7-passenger SUV, and Minivan. The rental companies covered in the survey are Ace, Alamo, Allsave, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Fox, Hertz, National, NU, Payless, SiXT, and Thrifty. For more info on the companies we cover, see our blog post on customer satisfaction ratings for these Maui car rental companies. 

As we've noted in previous blog posts, the price for an off-airport rental is usually lower than an airport rental, due to two factors:

1. Higher mandatory taxes and fees that are added to the cost of an airport rental, and
2. A discretionary "convenience premium" that rental companies charge at the airport. For details, see for example Is It Cheaper to Rent a Car at the Airport in Maui? Updated for 2024. 

Exceptions do occur from time to time and we do report them when they do.

IS MAUI THE MOST EXPENSIVE HAWAIIAN ISLAND FOR CAR RENTAL?

Here's a quick survey of the cheapest one-week rental cost from each of the five major Hawaii airports, for a rental beginning on Monday, May 5.

COST CHANGE AIRPORT
$237 -12% Honolulu (HNL)
$165 -23% Maui Kahului Airport (OGG)
$213 -21% Kauai Lihue Airport (LIH)
$231 -11% Kona Airport (KOA)
$261 -2% Hilo Airport (ITO)

This week prices for car rentals at all Hawaii major island airports have fallen from last week's levels. Honolulu was down 12% to $237/week, Kahului was down 23% to $165/week. Lihue was down 21% to $213/week. Kona was down 11% to $231/week. And Hilo came down only 2%, to $261/week. Rates at Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) were once again the cheapest, nearly $50/week less than the next lowest price, that was on Kauai.

WHAT IS DRIVING MAUI CAR RENTAL PRICES LOWER?

As we mentioned already, this week's car rental prices in Maui have fallen nearly to the same low level they reached during the travel ban that followed the Lahaina wildfire disaster. For prices to fall this low, it takes a combination of factors that drastically affect visitor numbers and the level of demand for rental cars. Here are the factors that we see producing these low prices:

1. Travel to Mauihas not yet recovered from the wildfire disaster. Visitor numbers are still below historical levels. This is confirmed in the visitor bureau numbers.
2. Reduced travel from Canada. Canadians make up a sizable chunk of Maui visitors. Due to political factors, fewer Canadians are traveling to the US. It has been widely reported that airlines have significantly cut the number of lights serving the US and Hawaii from Canada.
3. Economic uncertainty. The stock market has been through a period of high volatility, people's retirement accounts are down in value, and according to news reports, consumer sentiment is down to the lowest level since the Pandemic. Vacation travel is one of the things that take a hit in this environment.

Given these factors and the possibility of lasting effects, we expect the rental car market to stay very week through the summer and fall until the next winter holiday season.

HOW DO WE GET OUR MAUI CAR RENTAL PRICE DATA?

Prices for Maui car rentals vary from week to week, and the company offering the lowest price also changes from week to week. Furthermore, one company may be offering the lowest price in one vehicle category, for example mid-size cars, while a different company has a better price on another category, for example mini-vans.

Beginning in July 2024, we've tracked the prices on seven vehicle categories - compact, mid-size, Jeep, convertible, SUV, 7-seat SUV, and minivan - from 10 different companies at Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG): Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National, Payless, SiXT, and Thrifty. Each week, for every vehicle type, we noted which company offered the lowest price. Our weekly price-tracking for the lowest price economy car category goes back to July 2023 - more than one year. These are the data for the charts we post every week.

Previously we conducted a five-year price-tracking study for the lowest price economy car category beginning in February 2013 and continuing to February 2018. A sample of these results is in Figure 3, that shows the five-year average of the price over a one-year duration. For details of this massive price-tracking undertaking, and the most important findings on how and when to rent a car, see our blog post of July 14, 2024 titled "When is the best time to rent a car in Maui?"

HOW TO CHECK RATES AND AVAILABILITY FOR MAUI CAR RENTAL

Either click through to to our Cars & Rates section, or check our booking site at rentals.mauicarrental.biz. This site gives you access to all vehicles from eight different companies - Ace, Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Payless, and Thrifty - at all their Maui locations, that include the Airport rentacar center, Kahului town locations nearby the airport, and resort locations in Kihei/Wailea, and Ka'anapali. With so many options to choose from, you are assured to find the rental car that matches your preferences and your budget for your Maui trip - and there is never a cancellation penalty if you have to change plans.

Price Data Sources: rentalcars.com, rentals.mauicarrental.biz