Apr. 12, 2026. With Easter in the rearview mirror, the picture for Maui car rental has flipped from winter high season to spring shoulder season. Prices for various vehicles have dropped between 40% to 60% from last week's holiday rate. And, going forward, expect big rewards for waiting until the last minute to book your car rental. This flip vis-a-vis of the conventional wisdom of booking as far in advance as possible is a marker of seasonal transition from over-demand to over-supply, and we've now confirmed it for three weeks in a row. This week's cheapest car from the Maui Kahului Airport (OGG) is just $233 with all taxes and fees included - but it would have cost you $540 had you booked it four weeks ago. You would have saved 57% of the cost of rental by waiting, or by canceling your pre-booked rental and re-booking it at today's cheaper rate - provided that your rental agency's term allow that. This is all the more reason to book your rental with an agency like Frank's Friendly Cars Maui Car Rental LLC, where there is never a pre-payment, or deposit, or booking fee, cancellation fee, on any of our new car rentals. Last-minute savings are expected to be the rule, rather than the exception, from now until the mid-fall pickup in travel. Continue reading for all the details of this week's Maui rental car market.

Fig. 1. Prices for Maui car rental at Kahului Airport (OGG) from January 2025 to now.

HOW MUCH IS THE CHEAPEST MAUI RENTAL CAR ON APRIL 13, 2026?

Every week, we list the lowest available prices for a one-week car rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), for a selection of vehicle categories, with the company offering the best price. This is our overview of Maui car rental prices for the week of April 13, 2026.

Category Price Company

Economy $252 SiXT

Midsize $350 Thrifty

Jeep $516 Thrifty

Convertbl $357 Avis

SUV $357 SiXT

7 St SUV $567 Payless

Minivan $798 Thrifty

The prices quoted here include all applicable taxes and fees. Prices for these vehicle types charted week-to-week for the last 14 months are illustrated in Figure 1.

These are the lowest prices in every car category: The lowest price for a compact car from Kahului Airport (OGG) is with SiXT, at $252week.. Mid-size carsare starting at $350/week, from Thrifty. Jeeps are starting at $516/week, also from Thrifty. The lowest price for a convertible is $357/week, from Avis. Note that this is nearly the lowest price you can get for a convertible, year-round. The cheapest standard SUV's were $357/week, from Payless, and 7-seat SUV's are starting at $567/week, from also from Payless. The cheapest minivans were $798/week, from Thrifty - at this level, they are the priciest cars in the line-up.

Fig. 2. Maui car rental prices at Kahului Airport (OGG) this week and last week, with the percentage change..

HOW MUCH DID MAUI RENTAL CAR PRICES CHANGE FROM LAST WEEK?

This is how the lowest prices for a one week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) starting on April 13, 2026 have changed from the week before, for every vehicle category:

Category This week Last Change
Economy $252 $389 -35%

Midsize $350 $613 -43%

Jeep $516 $1,339 -61%

Convertbl $357 $822 -57%

SUV $357 $1,110 -68%

7 st SUV $567 $1,286 -56%

Minivan $798 $1,408 -43%

Prices came to a peak for last week's Easter holiday, and this week, across the board, rental rates for all vehicle types have dropped and are on their way to shoulder season levels. The price for the cheapest car from Kahului Airport (OGG) was down 35%. The cheapest midsize car also fell, by 43%. The starting price for Jeeps was down 61%. Convertibles were down 57%. Standard SUV's were down 68%, 7-seat SUV's were down 56%, and minivans were down 43%.

Prices for this week and last week, with the percentage change week-to-week, are illustrated in Figure 2.

This week's low price on convertibles is close to the lowest year-round price for these vehicles. This deep discounting could have something to do with the newest storm passing over the islands, bringing localized heavy precipitation, not as bad as the previous two storms in March, but still, not convertible weather.

Figure 3: This graph displays the minimum advertised prices for a one-week rental, emphasizing trends for reservations made one day, one week, and five weeks ahead.

IS IT CHEAPER TO BOOK IN ADVANCE OR WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE?

In mid-December of 2024, we began to track the movement of advance booking prices as the reservation date approaches. Every week, we check the price one week out, two weeks out, three weeks out, up to five weeks out, and save the numbers for comparison.

From mid-February of 2025 until early October, the prices available one day in advance and one week in advance were consistently lower than the price five weeks in advance (see figure 3). This indicates excess inventory that companies compete to thin out with lower prices.

However, from early October and until mid-March, bookings with short lead times - 1 week or 1 day in advance - have been consistently and sometimes significantly more expensive than advance bookings. This indicates strong demand pressure and/or supply limitations causing prices to ratchet up as the reservation date draws closer.

Mid-March (the infamous Ides of March) brought another reversal. This was precipitated in part by the violent storms that hit Hawaii and caused a disruption in travel. But from a broader perspective, this is the expected transition from high season pricing to low season pricing that comes at this time of year. Travelers are now being rewarded for waiting to book closer to their travel date, rather than booking far in advance. Prior to the mid-March reversal, prices had been ratcheting up from advance levels as the reservation date grew closer, punishing travelers who did not book far in advance..

For tomorrow's rental, booking today versus four weeks ago would have saved 57% or $307/week for an off-airport rental. The savings for a rental from OGG would have been almost exactly 50%, or $252/week.

Where do we go from here? If we take last year as a guide, last-minute discounting is expected to continue from now until cold weather returns to the Continental US and Canada, prompting the gradual resumption of seasonal travel to Hawaii.

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.

Figure 4. Week-by-week variation of Maui car rental prices averaged over five years, from 2013 to 2018.

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 6, 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 Maui car rental prices and availability 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.

ABOUT THIS BLOG

Frank Saab is a thought leader in the rental car industry, quoted by influential publications like SFgate.com. He is the editor of this blog published by Frank's Friendly Cars Maui Car Rental LLC, an independent car rental company operating in Maui, Hawaii, since 2006. Frank's offers low prices on used local cars and discount prices on new cars, with a "Lowest Price Guarantee" that assures you of getting the best deal on your rental. Visit our website at www.mauicarrental.biz, or call us at 808-280-1196.

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