January 11, 2025 - Maui car rental prices fell from their holiday peak last week for a one-week dip before bouncing back to a high season level that they are expected to hold into February. The cheapest rental car from Kahului airport is more than $100/day this week. There is not much relief from off-airport locations as the usual off-airport price leaders are sold out of many vehicle types. This year's prices are higher than last year, and the penalty for not booking in advance is significant - it cost hundreds of dollars more for a last minute rental than a rental booked in advance. Continue reading for all the details.

Fig. 1. Lowest advertised Maui car rental prices for select vehicles charted for 14 months

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO RENT A CAR IN MAUI ON JANUARY 12, 2026?

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 January 12, 2026.

Category Price Change Company

Economy $762 +16% Dollar

Midsize $827 +23% Dollar

Jeep $1,014 -13% SiXT

Convertbl $1,017 +13% Budget

SUV $857 +19% SiXT

7 St SUV $1,311 +13% SiXT

Minivan $958 -3% Dollar

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.

The price for the cheapest car from Kahului Airport (OGG) was $762/week, from Dollar. The cheapest midsize car cost $827/week from Hertz. Jeeps were at $1,014/week from SiXT. Convertibles were at $1,107/week from Budget, Standard SUV's were at $857/week, 7-seat SUV's were at $1,311/week, and minivans were at $958/week.

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

HOW DID PRICES CHANGE FROM LAST WEEK?

For the week of Monday 1/12/26, nearly all vehicle types were up slightly from last week. These cars are following the expected pattern, seen almost every year, of a post-holiday crunch dip in the first week of the new year, followed by a bounce from that dip level.

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

Compact cars were up 16% from last week, midsize cars were up 23%, convertibles were up 13$, standard SUV's up 19%, and 7-seat SUV's up 13%.

The two exceptions to this upward bounce from last week were Jeeps, down 13% this week, and minivans, down 3%. Why are these two categories trending down when everything is trending up? Minivans and Jeeps were both subject to safety recalls that idled a large number of these vehicles because they could not be rented until required repairs are performed. This caused a severe shortage of these vehicles over the holidays, driving their prices up to unusually high levels. This shortage is just now beginning to ease, as visitor levels and demand for the vehicles both drop from their holiday level.

Fig. 3. Maui car rental prices for multiple vehicle types: current vs. one year ago, with % change.

HOW DO PRICES COMPARE TO ONE YEAR AGO?

Comparing this week's prices to prices at the corresponding week one year ago is another useful and informative way of gauging the condition o the market. See the comparison in Figure 3 and the table below.

Vehicle Now Last Year Change
Economy $762 $556 37%

Midsize $827 $762 9%

Jeep $1,014 $811 25%

Convertbl $1,017 $1,118 -9%

SUV $857 $556 54%

7 st SUV $1,311 $673 95%

Minivan $958 $824 16%

Prices for nearly every car category were up from where they were at the same time last year. The biggest increases were for SUV's. Standard SUV's were up 54%, and 7-seaters were up 95% - nearly double.

Convertibles were the exception, down 3% from last year's level. As we've noted previously, a large number of convertibles were put into service just over the holidays, creating a temporary glut that could explain the lower price.

In a notable change from last year, prices this year did not dip as low after the holidays as they did in 2025. The post-holiday dip last year was significantly deeper than this year. This is illustrated in Figure 1. It could be an indicator of higher prices for the rest of this year.

Figure 4. Price trends for a one-week car rental in Maui from December 2024 to January 2026 show variations based on booking timings: one day, one week, and five weeks in advance.

IS IT CHEAPER TO BOOK IN ADVANCE?

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 this year 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 4).

However, since then, last minute prices have been higher than advance prices, and the trend continues this week. This indicates strong demand pressure and/or supply limitations driving up prices.

This week, last-minute prices for bookings are again higher than advance booking prices. In fact they are substantially higher.

Based on historical data, it is normal for last-minute prices to be higher than advance prices at this time of year. What's unusual about this year is that advance prices have been consistently lower for as long as they have been. For three months now, since early October, advance prices have been lower than last-minute prices. For the entire year, from 1/12/25 until this week, advance prices were lower than last minute about 30% of the time. This seems a significant variance from our data collected in previous years, where advance prices were lower between 10% and 15% of the time. This may lead us to revisit our models for pricing dynamics in this market, and reset the expectation for availability of last-minute savings.

Fig. 5. The cost for tomorrow's rental booked in advance was significantly lower than the last-minute price 1-day in advance.

HOW HAVE PRICE CHANGED FOR TOMORROW'S RENTAL?

Prices for a for a one week rental starting tomorrow, January 12, reserved in advance at earlier dates, is illustrated in the price chart in Figure 5.

Off-OGG OGG Days in Advance

$686.00 $762.00 1 (last-minute)

$627.00 $715.00 8 (one week)

$484.00 $660.00 15 (two weeks)

$476.00 $589.00 22 (three weeks)

$385.00 $561.00 29 (four weeks)

$432.00 $441.00 36 (five weeks)

For airport rentals, the price for tomorrow's rental rose steadily week-to-week from its level five weeks ago, finishing today 73% higher than the price available five weeks ago.

For off-airport rentals, prices also increased steadily from five weeks ago, with the last minute price finishing 59% higher than the advance price.

With the prices at their current levels, these changes represent a significant increase in cost. Airport rentals cost $321/week more at the last minute, and off-airport rentals increased by $254/week. That's a nice chunk of change that someone would have saved by booking in advance - or vice versa, that's how much more it cost anyone who waited until the last minute.

HOW DOES COST OF CAR RENTAL IN MAUI COMPARE TO OTHER ISLANDS IN HAWAII?

Figure 6. Cost of one week car rental at major Hawaii airports, from February 2025 until this week.

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, January 12, 2026. For each airport, we report the lowest price this week.

1/5 AIRPORT

$219 Honolulu

$755 Maui

$356 Kauai

$806 Kona

$534 Hilo

The lowest price week by week at each airport, from February 2025 until this week, or for a little bit more than 11 months, is illustrated in Figure 6.

It is easy to see from the chart that tor most of the last 11 months, prices for car rental in Maui were often the very lowest and if not the lowest then near the lower end of car rental prices in the Hawaiian islands.

However this price pattern changed dramatically with this year's holidays, and Maui's prices shot up higher than any of the other islands.

This week, the only airport with prices higher than Maui is Kona.

Whether Maui prices will return to the more affordable end of the scale is an open question.

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 10. 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 10, 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

Frank Saab 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.

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