May 17, 2026. Maui car rental prices seem to be slowly rising from their lowest shoulder season levels and headed in the direction of their mid-summer high season levels. For the coming week, the cheapest car from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) is $272 for a one week rental, with all taxes and fees included. In a stunning alignment that could be just coincidence, prices in most vehicle categories this week are almost exactly at the level of their median for the last 52 weeks. Normally in this shoulder season period, prices would be expected to be a discount to the median - in fact this is the normal definition of low season pricing, pricing below the median. What does it mean that this year's low prices carry no discount to their median? Keep on reading to find out.

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

HOW MUCH IS THE CHEAPEST MAUI RENTAL CAR ON May 18, 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 beginning Monday, May 18, 2026.

Category Price Company

Economy $272 Thrifty

Midsize $390 Dollar

Jeep $635 Alamo

Convertbl $771 Thrifty

SUV $543 SiXT

7 St SUV $657 SiXT

Minivan $541 Alamo

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) this week is with Thrifty, at $272/week.. Mid-size cars are starting at $390/week, at Thrifty's sister company, Dollar. Jeeps are starting at $635/week, from Alamo. The lowest price for a convertible is $771/week, at Thrifty. The cheapest standard SUV's are $543/week, at SiXT, and 7-seat SUV's are starting at $657/week, also at SiXT. The cheapest minivans are $541/week, at Alamo.

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 Monday May 18, 2026 have changed from the week before, for every vehicle category:

Category This week Last Change
Economy $272 $272 0%

Midsize $390 $324 20%

Jeep $635 $506 25%

Convertbl $771 $771 0%

SUV $543 $572 -5%

7 st SUV $657 $568 16%

Minivan $541 $483 12%

This week's lowest prices for rental cars from Kahului Airport (OGG) saw relatively small changes from last week. "Small" is a relative term in a market as volatile as Maui. Economy cars, midsize cars, and standard SUV's were virtually unchanged. Seven-seat SUV's and minivans were up 16% and 12% respectively. Midsize cars and Jeeps were up "only" 20% and 25%. In a market where we sometimes see wild swings of 100% or 200% from week to week, these are all relatively small changes. As we noted last week, we are now in the typical flat-line mode that we expect to see in the middle of the slow shoulder season. However, we are seeing a trend of prices beginning to creep up toward the higher levels of the mid-summer busy season.

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

As we noted in the previous two editions of this blog, prices seem to have formed a bottom in May, from which they are now rising. The analysis in the next section confirms this.

Fig. 3. Comparison of current rental prices to the 52-week median for various car types in Maui, with current premium or discount to median.

HOW DO THIS WEEK'S PRICES COMPARE TO THE 52-WEEK MEDIAN PRICE?

From our price data collected in the last 52 weeks, we can estimate the median price over this period in every vehicle category. We compare the median to this week's current price, to get an indication of where prices stand in relation to a level that is representative of the price expectation.

Vehicle Price Median Premium/Discount

Economy $272 $278 -2%

Midsize $390 $379 3%

Jeep $635 $609 4%

Convertbl $771 $771 0%

SUV $543 $543 0%

7 st SUV $657 $1,005 -35%

Minivan $541 $991 -45%

This comparison is illustrated in Figure 3.

This week we see a stunning alignment in the current prices versus the 52-week median. In most vehicle categories, this week's price is almost exactly at the median level for the last 52 weeks.

Prices for economy/compact cars, mid-size cars, Jeeps, convertibles and SUV's are within a hair's breadth of their one-year median level.

The outliers from this general alignment are the seven-seat SUV's and minivans. Their prices this week are significantly lower - 35% lower for 7-seat SUV's, and 45% lower for minivans - than their past 52-week median levels. While this may seem surprising, it is entirely expected. Prices for these vehicles were driven sky-high for extended periods by the shortage induced by the minivan safety recall, that put hundreds of minivans out of service, and placed a heavy strain on the supply of multi-passenger SUV's that substituted for minivans.

Now back to this alignment - what does it mean? And is it purely coincidence?

We address the second question first. Such an alignment of prices in a volatile market like Maui could be a coincidence - but this is not likely. More likely, it reflects active price-setting and the formation of a new base for pricing that we can expect to hold going forward for the next year.
What does this mean? At this time of year, prices would be expected to be at shoulder season levels, at a discount to their median levels from the last year. The fact that prices are holding - or are being held - at a par with this median level signifies a structural price re-set. We have alluded to this in previous editions of this blog, where we shared that average prices in each month from January through April of 2026 were consistently in the range of 50% to 90% higher than the year before, and that the price bottom that formed in the month of May 2026 was also about 50% higher than the bottom in May 2025. So if this is the bottom, prices can only go higher from here. Prices that are already now higher than the last year's median means that the coming year's median will be even higher than this year's

TLDR: Prices will go even higher in 2026-2027. Get used to it.

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