March 16, 2025 - This week prices rose sharply for the most popular car categories The exceptions were compact cars and midsize cars, that saw only a small change from last week. The price for the cheapest cars was $309/week. The sharpest rise in price was for "people-mover" categories. Minivans were nearly $2,500/week, and 7-seat SUV's were more than $1,700/week. These high price levels are not expected to last, Advance reservation show prices falling next week. Continue reading for more details on Maui car rental this week.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO RENT A CAR ON MARCH 17, 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 March 17, 2025.

Category Price Change Company
Economy $309 -4% Thrifty
Midsize $398 -3% Dollar
Jeep $714 25% Budget
ConvertbL $716 -20% Budget
SUV $840 40% Alamo
7 St SUV $1,705 177% SiXT
Minivan $2,478 157% SiXT

Fig. 1. Rental car prices in Maui rose sharply this week for the popular "people-mover" categories.

For the week of Monday 3/17/25, the lowest price for renting a car from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) for one week is $309/week from Thrifty, down 4% from last week. The lowest price for a midsize car is $398/week from Dollar, down 3% from last week. A Jeep is $714/week from Budget, up 25% from the week before. Convertibles are $716/week from Budget, down 20%. The cheapest SUV prices jumped 40% to $840/week, from Alamo, and minivan prices jumped upward by 157% to $2,478/week, from SiXT.

The sharpest increases in price were for the popular "people-mover" categories that include SUV's, 7-seat SUV's, and minivans.

MAUI CAR RENTAL PRICE FORECAST FOR 3/16/25

Based on five years of price tracking and analysis, we expected prices to bump upward for the Spring Break period, as they just did. The five-year average weekly price chart, with its spring break bump, is illustrated in Figure 2. Over the five-year period of our study, it was normal to see a mid-March increase in prices coinciding with the Spring Break period. This is a minor peak, much smaller than the other holiday peaks that occur in the course of the year.

Fig. 3. Maui car rental prices from the last 13 months with forecast of the coming five weeks.

For the coming five weeks that cover what's left of the month of March into April, online reservation systems are showing a decline in price that matches up with the five-year average trend (see Figure 3).

As of today, March 16 2025, the lowest advertised prices for a one week rental made in advance, both from the airport rentals and off-airport, are as follows:

DATE OFF-OGG OGG
03/16/25 $444 $309
03/23/25 $220 $229
03/30/25 $207 $229
04/06/25 $212 $269
04/13/25 $225 $269
04/20/25 $246 $269

These advance reservation prices, marked as "Forecast," are illustrated in the area highlighted in red in Figure 3.

Both airport prices and off-airport prices are headed downward from this point onward.

DOES IT COST LESS TO BOOK IN ADVANCE?

The difference between last-minute prices and advance reservation prices is an indicator of the state of supply and availability from the car rental providers. When supply is limited, last minute prices ratchet up from their advance levels. When there is over-supply, prices drop at the last minute. These changes follow a seasonal pattern that we covered in a blog post titled "When Is The Best Time To Rent A Car in Maui?" On average, based on five years of histori cal price data, the last minute price is lower than advance reservation prices nearly 90% of the time. The cross-over points from higher last minute prices to lower last minute prices mark the seasonal transitions from high season pricing to low season pricing (see Figure 4).

Fig. 4. Average cost trends for renting a car in Maui over five years show varying prices based on booking time: renting last-minute typically leads to lower rates, except for peak periods around Christmas and Presidents' day holidays. Booking at the last minute typically offers the most savings.

From mid-December of 2024, we have tracked the movement of advance booking prices as the reservation date approaches. For several weeks, from early January, prices were consistently ratcheting up in the days or weeks before the reservation date. Notably, since early January, the last minute price was significantly higher than the price one week in advance. For the six weeks from January 12 to February 17, the last minute price was on average $152/week more than the price one week in advance (see Figure 5),

Figure 5. Price trends for a one-week car rental in Maui from December 2024 to February 2025 show variations based on booking timings: one day, one week, and five weeks in advance.

Three weeks ago there was a cross-over with last-minute prices dropping below advance reservation prices for the first time in several weeks. This week, advance reservation prices remain higher than last-minute prices. Compared to one week in advance, today's price was only $104/week lower. But this applies only for the cheapest compact car category. Other popular "people-mover" categories including minivans and SUV's have ratcheted up significantly from last week, driven by demand from Spring Break travelers.

For the coming weeks, all indicators are pointing to a drop in price with a strong possibility that last-minute prices will remain lower than advance reservation prices. In this situation, booking closer to the reservation date, if not at the last minute, can lead to a savings in rental cost. Procrastinators, rejoice!

DOES IT COST LESS TO RENT OFF-AIRPORT?

Most of the time, Maui's off-airport car rental prices are lower than airport prices due to a number of factors that we have covered in a previous blog post, titled "Is It Cheaper to Rent a Car at the Airport in Maui? Updated for 2024." 

In recent weeks, we have seen a disruption of this pattern due to unexpected strong demand and limited supply at off-airport locations, with the off-airport prices in many cases higher than airport prices.

This week, the disruption of the normal price pattern continues, with the prices from off-airport locations served by airport shuttle higher than the airport prices in every vehicle category. (See Figure 6).

Fig. 6. Price of one-week car rental in Maui, comparing off-airport locations with airport locations for popular vehicle types.

These prices are from our survey taken on 3/16/25, for a one-week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), beginning on Monday, 3/17/25, 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 in previous blog posts, the price for an off-airport rental is usually lower than an airport rental, due to two factors:

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. 

Exceptions do occur from time to time and we do report them when they do.

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, March 17.

COST AIRPORT
$336 Honolulu (HNL)
$326 Maui Kahului Airport (OGG)
$380 Kauai Lihue Airport (LIH)
$194 Kona Airport (KOA)
$518 Hilo Airport (ITO)

This week prices in Hilo rose sharply, putting it at the top of the most expensive list. It is followed by Lihue, then Maui and Honolulu very close together, and finally Kona with a big drop from last week.

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.

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