July 6, 2025 - This week, prices for Maui rental cars stayed at their seasonal peak level that is expected for the July 4 holiday. The cheapest car from Kahului airport was $274/week, which is about $40/day with all taxes and fees included. The sale on convertibles that kept their prices at unseasonably low levels has ended, and they are up to a more typical $911/week. Minivans, that have been at unusually high levels for a few weeks, are completely sold out this week, island-wide. Prices overall are expected to dip from this week's peak level but remain at summer high season levels for the coming weeks. Continue reading for all the details.

Fig. 1. Rental car prices in Maui are holding steady going into June 2025.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO RENT A CAR IN MAUI ON JULY 7 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 July 7, 2025.

Category Price Change Company
Economy $274 -1% Payless
Midsize $403 +19% Thrifty
Jeep $576 -9% Payless
Convertbl $911 +131% Payless
SUV $556 +22% Payless
7 St SUV $1,025 -10% Hertz
Minivan - - -

For the week of Monday 7/6/2025, the lowest price for renting a car from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) for one week is $274/week from Payless- that's down just 1% from last week. The lowest price for a midsize car is up 19% to $403/week, from Thrifty. Jeeps were down by 9% to $576/week, from Payless. Convertibles rose very sharply from previously unusual low price, up 131% to $911/week from Payless. The price for the cheapest SUV was also up this week, by 22%, to $556/week, from Thrifty. 7-seat SUV's fell moderately, by 10%, to $1,026/week, from Hertz. And minivans, that were previously at record high levels are completely sold out at all outlets - non available to rent island-wide.

With this week's movement, prices overall are staying at their summer peak levels that are normally to be expected around the time of the July 4 holiday. Transportation Safety Authority (TSA) reports that this is one of the busiest air travel periods of the year, with an estimated 18.5 million people traveling by air in the USA over the long weekend. This year's July 4 holiday travel is expected to exceed both 2024 (last year) and 2019 (pre-pandemic record year).

WHAT'S GOING ON WITH CONVERTIBLES AND MINIVANS

Convertibles and minivans have both seen unusual price movements over the last few weeks. As we reported previously, convertible prices held at unusually low levels for several weeks in a row, before finally catching up with the seasonally expected levels this week. We believe this temporary sale on convertibles was due to a large shipment of vehicles arriving on-island and being put into service gradually. With minivans, it is the opposite situation, with the price rocketing to unusually high levels over the past few weeks, and finally, this week, a completely sold out situation, with no minivans available island-wide from any rental location. However, we are seeing excess numbers of minivans in idle storage at the rental company lots (see photos). We believe these are being staged for shipping off-island i.e. return to the mainland. So it appears to be either a gross miscalculation of expected demand, or a logistical snafu, i.e. operational difficulties, that have caused the price surge and sellout for these vehicles.

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 JULY/AUGUST 2025

As of today, July 6, 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
07/06/25 $290 $274
07/13/25 $221 $251
07/20/25 $230 $251
07/27/25 $254 $263
08/04/25 $254 $277
08/11/25 $243 $317

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

Prices appear to be peaking right now, and then going into an expected post-holiday dip. after which they will level off for the rest of the summer high season for July into early August.

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.

This anticipated price movement is consistent with the historical trend of prices r that we've documented in our five-year price tracking study, that followed prices week-to-week for five years between 2013 and 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 peak around July 4 then remain at summer season levels through July and into early August, before dropping back to shoulder season levels for September.

Figure 4. 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.

More recently, this same pattern was repeated again last year in summer of 2024, as illustrated in the price chart in Figure 2. In summer 2024, prices peaked for July 4, then dipped and leveled off for a few weeks into August.

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.

We've seen longer range prices for reservations made five weeks in advance showing peaks coinciding with expected busy travel periods, the most recent being Memorial Day and Independence Day.

For Memorial Day, advance prices fizzled down to a much lower level for last minute bookings. This is shown in the price chart of Figure 4.

Figure 5. Advance booking prices vs. lead times for the cheapest cars available to rent fo the week of July 7. Advance booking prices have fallen as the reservation date approaches.

The expected high prices have fizzled out again for the Independence Day holiday. Five weeks out, the advance reservation prices were higher than the prices available lasts minute. However the picture is mixed for airport rentals versus off-airport rentals. The price for a rental from the airport starting tomorrow fell sharply from a high of $451/week five weeks ago, to just $251/week one week ago, and then rose slightly to $274/week today. By contrast, the price for an off-airport rental was $315/week five weeks ago, and it fell sharply the next week to just $194/week. From there it has slowly climbed week-by-week up to $290/week, which is slightly higher than the airport price.

The movement in the off-airport price is due to more limited inventory at off-airport locations, that hold fewer cars than the larger airport lots. It does not take much increase in demand for the off-airport locations to start running out of inventory, and then their pricing algorithms jack up the prices for any vehicles that remain available.

The progression of advance reservation prices for this date is illustrated in the price chart in Figure 5.

Off-OGG OGG Days in Advance
$290.00 $274.00 1
$226.00 $251.00 8
$209.00 $251.00 15
$205.00 $260.00 22
$194.00 $324.00 29
$316.00 $451.00 36

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, we are seeing off-airport prices higher than airport prices in every available vehicle category, which includes economy/compact, midsize, Jeep, and SUV. For two of the vehicle types that we cover, convertibles and 7-seat SUV's there is no off-airport availability at all. For minivans, there is no availability island-wide from either airport or off-airport locations.

These prices are from our survey taken on 7/6/25, for a one-week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), beginning on Monday, 7/7/25, 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 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.

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, July 7.

COST CHANGE AIRPORT
$418 +46% Honolulu (HNL)
$283 + 2% Maui Kahului Airport (OGG)
$334 +31% Kauai Lihue Airport (LIH)
$397 + 13% Kona Airport (KOA)
$304 +23% Hilo Airport (ITO)

This week prices for car rentals at all five major airports in Hawaii increased, in time for the busy travel weekend. The biggest increase was at Honolulu, up 46% to $418/week, making it the most expensive this week. Kauai's Lihue saw the next biggest increase, up 31% to $334/week. Hilo was up 23% to $304/week, and Kona was up 13% to $397. Maui's Kahului airport (OGG) had the smallest increase, just 2%, bringing it to $283/week, which is the cheapest out of all five major airports. Previously Maui had the lowest price for 12 weeks in a row, from 3/30 to 6/16. This week it has returned to the cheapest position after a brief two week interruption.

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