October 27, 2025 - Travelers to Maui have cause for celebration this week, as Maui car rental prices continued to descend from the Columbus Day peak that brought them from low season into high season range. Prices are down from last week on nearly all vehicles. Prices for nearly every vehicle are in a relatively affordable range relative to the expected price over the year, with the cheapest car off-airport for just $175/week for one week - that's and unbeatable price of just $25/day with all taxes and fees included. However, advance reservation systems are showing the possibility of some price volatility over the next few weeks. Keep reading for all the details.

Fig. 1. Rental car prices in Maui continued to drop from Columbus Day peak,.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO RENT A CAR IN MAUI ON OCTOBER 27, 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 October 27, 2025.

Category Price Change Company

Economy $224 -41% Payless

Midsize $277 -36% Hertz

Jeep $380 -53% Budget

Convertbl $965 30% Sixt

SUV $293 -58% Payless

7 St SUV $359 -68% Thrifty

Minivan $442 -33% Thrifty

The prices quoted here include all applicable taxes and fees.

The week-to-week movement in prices for all vehicles, beginning from September of 2024, is illustrated in Figure 1.

Fig 2. Maui car rental prices this week and last week, with percent change from last week.

HOW DID PRICES CHANGE FROM LAST WEEK?

For the week of Monday 10/27/2025, the cheapest rental car from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) is $224/week for one week from Payless that's 41% down from last week. The lowest price for a midsize car is down 38% to $277/week, from Hertz. Jeeps fell by 53%, to $380/week, from Budget. The price for the cheapest SUV fell 58% to $293/week, from Payless. 7-seat SUV's were also down, by 68%, to $359/week, from Thrifty. Minivans were down 33%, to $442/week, from Budget. Convertibles were the only exception to the overall price drop: they rose 30% to $965/week, from Sixt.

The reasons for the divergence in price for convertibles are not clear. We have previously reported the arrival of a large stock of convertibles - these vehicles are still sitting in the storage yards. However, they may be due to be put in service very soon. Advance reservation systems are showing a huge drop in convertible prices expected in early to mid-November.

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?

We can gain additional insight into the current market conditions by comparing the current price in each vehicle category to its median price over the last 52 weeks. This is illustrated in Figure 3 and in the table below.

Vehicle Price Median Premium/Discount

Economy $224 $263 -15%

Midsize $277 $327 -15%

Jeep $380 $539 -29%

Convertbl $965 $631 +53%

SUV $293 $404 -27%

7 st SUV $359 $616 -42%

Minivan $442 $678 -35%

This week, prices in nearly every vehicle category are at a substantial discount to their median price for the last 52 weeks. This is in marked contrast to last week, when prices in nearly every category were at a premium. While they are not all the way back down to low season levels, prices are in an affordable range - for Maui - in nearly every vehicle category.

The exception is convertibles, that are priced at a substantial premium. Possible reasons for this price divergence were discussed in the preceding section.

Fig. 4. Maui car rental prices for multiple vehicle types: current vs. one year ago, with % change.

HOW DO PRICES COMPARE TO ONE YEAR AGO?

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, and today's prices are compared with the prices of one year ago in Figure 4 and the table below.

Vehicle Now Last Year Change
Economy $224 $263 -15%

Midsize $277 $289 -4%

Jeep $380 $445 -15%

Convertbl $965 $371 160%

SUV $293 $383 -23%

7 st SUV $359 $428 -16%

Minivan $442 $381 +16%

This week's price in nearly every category is lower than the price one year ago, with the difference in the range of 4% lower to 23% lower. There are two exceptions however: the first is for convertibles, that cost a staggering 160% or nearly three times what they cost one year ago. And the second is for minivans, that are slightly higher this year - this may be a hangover effect from the minivan shortage associated with the vehicle recall that we reported previously this summer .

Figure 5. Maui car rental prices for economy/compact cars - last 13 months plus five-week forecast.

MAUI CAR RENTAL PRICE FORECAST FOR NOVEMBER 2025

As of today, October 26, 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 future dates shown:

DATE OFF-OGG OGG

10/27/25 $175 $224

11/03/25 $195 $355

11/10/25 $177 $697

11/17/25 $173 $219

11/25/25 $195 $220

12/01/25 $248 $282

These advance reservation prices, marked as "Forecast," are illustrated in the area highlighted in Figure 5, which also shows the lowest price evolution over the last 13 months.

Figure.6 Average car rental costs in Maui from 2013 to 2018 show seasonal changes with peak prices for Christmas holidays.

For the coming weeks, online reservation systems, are suggesting the possibility of roller coaster movement, with prices successively rising then dropping from week to week between now and Thanksgiving. This would be a repeat of last year's fall price movement, that showed dramatic swings up and down from week to week .

This is in contrast to historical price data, that rise in early October to a steady level they maintain through December, before surging for the Christmas period. This is based on our tracking 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 6.

This remains to be seen, but a fall roller-coaster in prices could be the new normal. At this point, we have only hints that last year's wild swings are about to be repeated again this year.

Figure 7. Price trends for a one-week car rental in Maui from December 2024 to November 2025 show variations based on booking timings: one day, one week, and five weeks in advance.

IS IT CHEAPER TO BOOK IN ADVANCE VS 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.

Beginning in mid-February of this year, the prices available one day in advance and one week in advance have been consistently lower than the price five weeks in advance (see figure 6) - these last-minute prices are generally lower than advance prices except in periods of very heavy demand driven by peak travel holidays.

For the last two weeks, last-minute prices rose significantly over advance prices. This indicates strong demand pressure driving up prices.

However, this week, the gap between advance pricing and last minute pricing has closed. This seems to confirm that the pricing pressure due to the Columbus Day holiday period is over, and operations are returning to a condition of over-supply.

Fig. 8. The cost for tomorrow's rental booked in advance has had only minimal variation over the last five weeks as the rental date approaches.

HOW HAVE PRICE CHANGED FOR TOMORROW'S RENTAL?

The progression of advance reservation prices for a one week rental starting tomorrow, October 27, is illustrated in the price chart in Figure 8.

Off-OGG OGG Days in Advance

$175.00 $224.00 1 (last-minute)

$165.00 $217.00 8 (one week)

$165.00 $230.00 15 (two weeks)

$165.00 $216.00 22 (three weeks)

$165.00 $242.00 29 (four weeks)

$166.00 $242.00 36 (five weeks)

The price for a rental starting tomorrow has shown only small variation over the last five weeks. There was no significant advantage to booking in advance over booking last minute or vice versa. This held true both for airport rentals and off-airport rentals. This is a somewhat unusual price pattern that may be associated with transitions from high demand periods to low demand or over-supply.

Fig. 9. 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?

The airport vs. off-airport prices for this week, with the difference percentage between prices are illustrated in Figure 8. In this chart, we also display the expected difference percentage, based on 52 weeks of weekly data.

By conventional wisdom, airport prices are expected to be higher than off-airport prices due to higher airport taxes and fees and a convenience premium .

However, over the past two years, it has become apparent that this rule does not hold true all the time across all vehicle categories. We have found that for some vehicles, notably Jeeps, convertibles, and 7-seat SUV's, prices are consistently lower at the airport. This is probably caused by limited supply at the smaller off-airport locations.

In the table below, we list the actual off-airport savings this week by vehicle type, compared to the expected savings based on 52 weeks of data.

Off-airport Savings

Vehicle Actual Expected

Economy 22% 20%

Midsize 31% 3%

Jeep -16% -12%

Convertbl 0% -8%

SUV 34% 15%

7 St SUV 0% -34%

Minivan 44% 30%

This week's pricing is consistent with this trend. Prices for economy cars, mid-size cars, standard SUV's, and minivans, are all lower off-airport. offering in some cases substantial savings to travelers who are willing to endure the inconvenience of picking up the car at a remote location away from the airport. However, for Jeeps, the off-airport price is higher. And for convertibles and 7-seat SUV's, there is no availability of these vehicles being reported off-airport.

Note that for mid-size cars, SUV's, and minivans, the off-airport savings are in excess of their expected levels, reflecting an over-supply situation off-airport.

These prices are from our survey taken on 10/26/25, for a one-week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), beginning on Monday, 10/2/75, 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 .

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, October 27. For each airport, we report the lowest price this week and last week, and the difference percentage between the two.

10/26 10/19 CHANGE AIRPORT

$228 $248 -8% Honolulu

$175 $247 -29% Maui (OGG)

$264 $401 -34% Kauai (LIH)

$240 $472 -49% Kona (KOA)

$248 $248 0% Hilo (ITO)

This week prices for car rentals at the major airports in Hawaii are uniformly down from last week. The biggest price drop was in Kona, down 49% week over week. Maui retains its position as the cheapest Hawaii destination for renting a car, that it has held for 23 out of the last 29 weeks, while coming in second cheapest for the other six.

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

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