October 11, 2026. Prices for Maui rental cars plunged this week, after surging the week before. Prices dropped between 30% and 50% in the space of just one week. This marks the start of the annual fall season roller-coaster ride, with upcoming peaks expected at Veterans' Day and Thanksgiving in November, leading up to the Christmas holiday peak. Continue reading for more details.

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

HOW MUCH IS THE CHEAPEST MAUI RENTAL CAR ON OCTOBER 12, 2026?

Every week, we list the lowest available prices for a one-week car rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), for a range of different vehicle categories, with the company offering the best price. This is our overview of Maui car rental prices for the week beginning Monday, October 12, 2026.

Category Price Company
Economy $239 Thrifty
Midsize $297 Dollar
Jeep $581 Alamo
Convertible - -
SUV $408 Dollar
7 St SUV $442 Dollar
Minivan $481 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 at Kahului Airport (OGG) this week is with Thrifty, at $239/week. Mid-size cars are starting at $297/week, at Dollar. Jeeps are starting at $581/week, from Alamo. The cheapest standard SUV's are $408/week, at Dollar. Large 7-seat SUV's are only a bit more, $442/week, at Dollar. Minivans, are available starting at $481/week, from Alamo Thrifty. Convertibles are completely unavailable from any major provider, airport or off-airport, with availability not expected to resume until early in 2027. As we noted last week, end-of-life de-fleeting of the Chevy Camaro, and safety recalls on the Ford Mustang have all but eliminated the convertible rental fleet.

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 price for a one week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) starting on October 12, 2026 has changed from the week before, for every vehicle category:

Category This week Last Change
Economy $239 $496 -52%
Midsize $297 $599 -50%
Jeep $581 $826 -30%
Convertible - - -
SUV $408 $596 -32%
7 st SUV $442 $648 -32%
Minivan $481 $906 -47%

Prices in every category are up from last week, with the biggest increases for four-door cars and Jeeps.

The lowest price for a compact cars is down 52% from last week, after doubling the week before, bringing it back to where it was two weeks ago. Midsize car prices are following a similar trajectory, down by half (50%) after doubling the the week before. Jeeps are down 30%. Standard SUVs and large SUV's (seating 7) are down 32%,. Minivans are down by 47%, nearly half what they were one week ago.

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

WHAT CAUSED THE EARLY OCTOBER PRICE SPIKE?

This is the second year in a row that prices surged in the first week of October (that coincides with the annual Maui County Fair). Last year, prices remained high for another week, through the Columbus Day holiday, while this year they dropped back down to low season levels for Columbus day, with the surge lasting only one week. How can we explain these price movements, and the difference from year to year? Correlation is not causation, and just because they occur at the same time does not mean that the County Fair is the cause of higher rental car prices. But until we can find another reasonable explanation, the County Fair remains a suspect. This year's Columbus Day price drop is more puzzling. A quick surge in visitor numbers, that leads to a surge in rental car prices, is entirely within the range of expectation for a three-day weekend and we see this repeatedly for other fall and winter holiday weekends like Veterans' Day, Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King Day, and Presidents' Day. There is no ready explanation for why this year's Columbus Day holiday seems to have fizzled. There is a long list of factors that could be put forward as suspects, like for example,
- perception of damage to Maui's beaches and infrastructure from repeated spring and summertime storms - it is a fact that many popular Maui beaches are gone, their sand washed away - and our customers nearly all report that they have seen this in breathtaking drone video on their social media feeds.
- low levels of consumer confidence nationally due to high gasoline prices and interest rates. This is all over the financial news.
- uncertainty due to impending high-stakes political races nationwide, with every side predicting the end of the world if they lose. Anyone with a phone is being hammered with apocalyptic text messages from politicians and their political action committees.
- doom and gloom perceptions due to ongoing wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Babies are being burned alive in conflict regions, and anywhere there is not war their is riots and civil unrest.
With all this going on, why would anyone want to leave home? Any of these factors alone could cause travelers to consider canceling a vacation or delay it - and taken all together at the same time, there is the possibility of a negative synergy that produces mass paralysis. Have we seen this before? YES, WE HAVE. We don't have to wait for a report from the state tourism authorities to confirm what we are seeing and experiencing directly.

Figure 4. Three years of Maui Car Rental Price Data. Lowest price for one-week rental from July 2023 to the present.

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.

We have recently completed three full years of weekly monitoring of the lowest available price for a one-week rental at Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), compiling prices for vehicles available at the Consolidated Rent A Car facility (ConRAC) as well as rentals from off-airport locations served by free shuttle. This survey covers 10 different companies, Ace (closed as of March 2026), Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Fox, Hertz, National, Nu, Payless, Sixt, and Thrifty.

This price survey covering three years from July 2023 to this July is illustrated in Figure 3. This chart marks an important milestone in our multi-year price-tracking effort. We will return to it in future editions of this blog to discuss salient features like the significant rise in the price floor in 2026 compared to 2025 (clearly visible on the chart), and the repeating seasonal variation of prices (also clearly visible).

Beginning in July 2024, we expanded our data collection from just the lowest price available to the lowest prices in 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. Later this month we will have completed two full years of this data set - which will again give us plenty of salient findings to dive into, deeply.

Figure 5. 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 4, 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 rental cars rate 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 affordable older cars and discount prices on new cars, with a "Lowest Price Guarantee" that assures you of getting the best deal on your rental. The company is a member of the Hawaii Visitors and Conventions Bureau (HVCB) and the American Car Rental Association (ACRA). 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