September 7, 2025 - Maui car rental bargain hunters can rejoice at incredible post-Labor Day deals on a wide range of vehicles. With the cheapest car from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) at just $220/week (with all taxes and fees), Jeeps are only $327/week, SUV's are just $238/week, and minivans, that had soared due to a July recall, are down to an unbelievable $254/week off-airport. Prices are expected to stay in the same low shoulder season range for the rest of September. Keep reading for all the details.

Fig. 1. Rental car prices in Maui are at low season levels in September 2025,.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO RENT A CAR IN MAUI ON SEPTEMBER 8, 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 September 8, 2025.

Category Price Change Company
Economy $220 +5% SiXT
Midsize $240 +6% SiXT
Jeep $327 +0% Budget
Convertbl $519 +25% Dollar
SUV $238 -3% SiXT
7 St SUV $359 0% Thrifty
Minivan $381 -35% Payless

For the week of Monday 9/8/2025, the cheapest rental car from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) is $220/week for one week from SiXT - that's 5% more last week. The lowest price for a midsize car is also up slightly, 6% to $240/week, also from SiXT. Jeeps are unchanged at $328/week, from Budget. Convertibles are up again, by 25%, to $519/week from Dollar. The price for the cheapest SUV went down 3% from last week, to $238/week, from SiXT. 7-seat SUV's were unchanged at $359/week, from Thrifty. The biggest move for this week was on the price of minivans, down 35% to just $381/week, from Payless. All prices quoted here include all applicable taxes and fees.

WHAT FACTORS ARE DRIVING MAUI RENTAL CAR PRICES THIS WEEK?

We can gain some insight into the current market conditions by comparing the current price in each vehicle category to its median price over the last 52 weeks.

Vehicle Price Median Premium/Discount
Economy $220 $263 -16%
Midsize $240 $323 -26%
Jeep $327 $539 -39%
Convertbl $519 $626 -17%
SUV $238 $397 -40%
7 st SUV $359 $575 -38%
Minivan $381 $678 -44%

Prices in every vehicle category are at a discount to their median price from the last 52 weeks, with some discounts in the range of 40% off. This reflects shoulder season pricing, which is the lower price level between the summer peak and the beginning of the fall travel season. The discount for economy/compact cars is 16%, for mid-size it is 26%, 39% for Jeeps, 18% for convertibles, 40% for standard SUV's, 38% for 7-seat SUV's, and 44% for minivans.

Why is there now such a big discount on SUV's and minivans? It's because the median price for these vehicles over the last 52 weeks was driven up by the mid-summer shortage of minivans, that lasted for several weeks. This caused the price of minivans and other multi-passenger vehicles to soar, and those increased prices over a period of several weeks are reflected in a higher median price for the year. Prices now back to normal levels are at an exaggerated discount to the inflated median prices caused by the minivan recall. In fact the pricing is seasonally normal. Today's price for minivans and 7-seat SUV's is not much different from what it was exactly one year ago - more on this below.

The most striking "real" discount at this moment is on Jeeps, 39% off from their normal median price for the last year. This makes it a great opportunity for anyone considering renting one of these vehicles.

HOW DO PRICES COMPARE TO LAST YEAR?

We can gain even more insight by comparing today's prices in every vehicle category to the prices from exactly one year ago. The price movements over the last year are illustrated in Figure 1.

Vehicle Now Last Year Change
Economy $220 $239 -8%
Midsize $240 $281 -15%
Jeep $327 $439 -26%
Convertbl $519 $820 -37%
SUV $238 $302 -21%
7 st SUV $359 $368 -2%
Minivan $381 $364 +5%

The price for economy cars is down 8% from one year ago. Mid-size cars are down 15%, Jeeps are down 26%, convertibles are down 37%, regular SUV's are down 21%, 7-seat SUV's are down 2%, and minivans are up 5%. Except for 7-seat suv's and minivans, most vehicle prices are substantially lower than one year ago. The 7-seat SUV's and minivans are diverging from the over-all trend, with only a small change from one year ago. We attribute the overall downward trend in prices to continued weakness in travel to Maui following the Lahaina wildfire disaster of two years ago. The relative firmness of pricing for 7-seat SUV's and minivans can be seen as a lingering effect of the minivan recall earlier in the summer.

Fig. 2. Maui car rental prices from the last 13 months, with advance reservation prices for the coming five weeks.

MAUI CAR RENTAL PRICE FORECAST FOR SEPTEMBER 2025

As of today, September 7, 2025, the lowest advertised prices for a one week rental made in advance, both from the airport rentals and off-airport, are as follows for the dates shown:

DATE OFF-OGG OGG
09/08/25 $181 $220
09/15/25 $178 $200
09/22/25 $178 $214
09/29/25 $178 $202
10/06/25 $178 $256
10/13/25 $178 $246

These advance reservation prices, marked as "Forecast," are illustrated in the area highlighted in Figure 2.

For the economy/compact category, prices appear to have settled at their low season levels, in the lowest range of prices for the year.

Figure 3. Average car rental costs in Maui from 2013 to 2018 show significant fluctuations, with a notable spikes in late December and mid-February, and a marked increase during the next five-week period highlighted in red.

Advance reservation systems are showing prices staying flat for a few weeks then moving upward at the very end of the month or in early October. Last year, prices began to increase to fall season levels in mid-September (see Figure 2), but this year, if we go by what the reservation systems are showing, the fall price increase may be delayed slightly until early October.

This would be consistent with historical price data. We tracked rental car prices week-by-week for five years from 2013 through 2018. The five-year average prices showing the seasonal variation throughout a year are illustrated in the price chart in figure 3.

Historically, between 2013 and 2018, prices fall from their summer high season levels in August, and stay at a depressed shoulder season level from then on through most of September, then increase to fall season levels in early October (see Figure 3).

Figure 4. Price trends for a one-week car rental in Maui from December 2024 to August 2025 show variations based on booking timings: one day, one week, and five weeks in advance.

IS IT CHEAPER TO BOOK AT THE LAST MINUTE?

Beginning in mid-December of 2024, we have tracked 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.

For several weeks now, the prices available one day in advance and one week in advance have been significantly lower than the price five weeks in advance (see figure 4).

Figure 5. Chart of rental costs for economy/compact cars in Maui, showing a decrease in prices for both airport and off-airport locations as the rental date approaches.

Continuing the same trend, for rentals beginning tomorrow, the last minute price available today is lower than the price available five weeks ago. This holds true for both airport rentals and off-airport rentals.

The progression of advance reservation prices for a one week rental starting tomorrow, September 8, is illustrated in the price chart in Figure 5.

Off-OGG OGG Days in Advance
$181.00 $220.00 1
$168.00 $184.00 8
$178.00 $211.00 15
$178.00 $197.00 22
$185.00 $266.00 29
$185.00 $265.00 36

The price for a rental from the airport starting tomorrow dropped from $265/week if booked five weeks ago, to just $220/week today - with the lowest price of $184/week available one week ago. The advance price was 20% more than the last minute price and 44% more than the best price. For an off-airport rental, the price of a rental beginning tomorrow also came down, from $185/week if booked five weeks ago, to just $181/week if booked today - the advance price for an off-airport rental saw only minor variation over the course of the last five weeks.

With summer holidays and Labor day past, advance reservation prices have been trending downward, and they are now at their lowest level of the last year (see Figure 4). The gap between advance prices and last-minute prices has been steadily narrowing. While some last minute bargains may still be available over the next few weeks, they savings they bring are getting smaller and smaller. this trend will reverse once we move into the busy fall season later in October.

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

DOES IT COST LESS TO RENT OFF-AIRPORT?

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

However, in recent months, we have seen a disruption of the historical pattern, with off-airport prices frequently higher than airport prices. This may be due to off-airport locations cutting back on inventory and operations in the difficult business environment that came after the Lahaina wildfires of August 2023.

The airport vs. off-airport prices for this week are illustrated in Figure 6.

This week, even with prices discounted in nearly every category, we are seeing off-airport prices lower than the airport in only three categories, economy/compact cars, mid-size cars, and minivans. For SUV's and Jeeps, the price at the airport is lower. For convertibles and 7-seat SUV's, there is no off-airport availability at all.

These prices are from our survey taken on 9/7/25, for a one-week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), beginning on Monday, 9/8/25, for seven vehicle categories, Economy/compact 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 previously, there are fundamental factors that contribute historically to higher prices from the airport.

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. 

However this model appears to be turned on its head in light of the current operational environment for the rental car business in Maui. Whether and when we see a return to the usual price pattern is unknown.

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, September 8.

COST CHANGE AIRPORT
$181 -4% Honolulu (HNL)
$187 +4% Maui Kahului Airport (OGG)
$340 +29% Kauai Lihue Airport (LIH)
$223 +17% Kona Airport (KOA)
$259 +16% Hilo Airport (ITO)

This week prices for car rentals at the five major airports in Hawaii have increased at every location except Honolulu, where the price dropped by just 4%. This was enough for Honolulu to take the lowest price position from Maui, but only by a few dollars - $181 for HNL vs. $187 for OGG. Even so, Maui has held the spot of cheapest island to rent a car for 18 our of the last 23 weeks - and came in second for the other five. Low rental prices in Maui reflect the very slow recovery of travel to Maui following the Lahaina wildfire disaster of just over two years ago.

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.

ABOUT THIS BLOG

This blog is 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.

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