November 2, 2025 - Prices for most Maui rental cars (compact, mid-size, Jeep, and minivan) more than doubled in just one week, while prices for SUV's more than tripled. The only exception was for convertibles, that saw only a modest week-to-week increase - but they were already at an elevated level. This week's price movements seem to be a repeat of the price roller-coaster that we reported at this time last year. The forecast is for prices to come down again in the next week, before rising again for Thanksgiving - a continued roller-coaster. Keep reading for all the details.

Fig. 1. Maui car rental prices this week and last week, with the percentage change..

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO RENT A CAR IN MAUI ON NOVEMBER 3, 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 November 3, 2025.

Category Price Change Company

Economy $589 163% Hertz

Midsize $688 148% Hertz

Jeep $994 162% Payless

Convertbl $1,199 24% Thrifty

SUV $965 229% SiXT

7 St SUV $1,185 230% SiXT

Minivan $1,225 177% Budget

The prices quoted here include all applicable taxes and fees.

HOW DID PRICES CHANGE FROM LAST WEEK?

For the week of Monday 11/3/2025, the cheapest rental car from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) is $589/week for one week from Hertz; that's 163% more than last week. The lowest price for a midsize car is up 148% to $688/week, also from Hertz. Jeeps were up 162%, to $994/week, from Payless. Convertibles were up only 24%, to $1,199/week, from Thrifty. The price for the cheapest SUV rose 229% to $965/week, from Sixt. 7-seat SUV's were up nearly the same, by 230%, to $1,185/week, also from SiXT. Minivans were up 177%, to $1,225/week, from Budget.

The reasons for this sudden price rise are not clear. At rental company baseyards, there is an abundant quantity of vehicles.

Fig. 2. 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?

Prices in all vehicle categories are well above their median price over the last 52 weeks. This is illustrated in Figure 2 and in the table below.

Vehicle Price Median Premium/Discount

Economy $589 $269 119%

Midsize $688 $340 102%

Jeep $994 $569 75%

Convertbk $1,199 $632 90%

SUV $965 $457 111%

7 st SUV $1,185 $616 92%

Minivan $1,225 $724 69%

This week, prices in nearly every vehicle category are about double their one-year median price for the last 52 weeks, with some slightly less than double, and some slightly more. This is in marked contrast to last week, when prices in nearly every category were at a discount to the median price.

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?

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

Vehicle Now Last Year Change
Economy $589 $508 16%

Midsize $688 $522 32%

Jeep $994 $1,052 -6%

Convertbl $1,199 $446 169%

SUV $965 $539 79%

7 st SUV $1,185 $667 78%

Minivan $1,225 $678 81%

Last week the price in nearly every category was lower than the price one year ago,

This week, prices in nearly every category are higher than the prices one year ago, but not uniformly. Prices for 4-door sedans (compact and mid-size are up by a relatively small percentage. Prices for SUV's and minivans are up dramatically, nearly double. Prices for Jeeps are down a small percentage from last year (just 4%), but prices for convertibles are also up dramatically, nearly triple.

The year-to-year increase in SUV's and minivans may be a hangover effect from the minivan shortage associated with the vehicle recall that we reported previously this summer.

The increase in convertible prices is likely due to delays for putting this year's fleet of new convertibles into service - we've reported on this elsewhere.

The modest price increase for sedans could be a sign of some recovery in visitor numbers to Maui. Last year's visitor numbers were still suffering the effects of the Lahaina wildfire disaster of August 2023.

Figure 4. Maui car rental prices for economy/compact cars - last 13 months plus five-week forecast.

MAUI CAR RENTAL PRICE FORECAST FOR NOVEMBER/DECEMEBR 2025

As of today, November 2, 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

11/03/25 $668 $589

11/10/25 $325 $392

11/17/25 $226 $261

11/25/25 $192 $262

12/01/25 $173 $248

12/08/25 $243 $282

These advance reservation prices, marked as "Forecast," are illustrated in the area highlighted in Figure 4, which also shows the lowest price evolution over the last 13 months.

For the coming weeks, online reservation systems, are suggesting that prices will drop steadily week-to-week through the Thanksgiving holiday, before they rise again in early December. .

Of the fall roller-coaster over? With Thanksgiving bringing one of the busiest travel weeks of the year nationwide, there is a strong possibility that prices may spike again for Thanksgiving. It is suggested that smart travelers book the Thanksgiving rentals now, hedging against the possibility that prices might go up.

Figure 5. 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.

From mid-February of this year until early October, 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 5).

However, for most of October, last minute prices have been higher than advance prices, and the trend continues this week. This indicates strong demand pressure driving up prices.

This week, the gap between advance pricing and last minute pricing increased. in other words, the savings from booking in advance were even bigger. And peering into next week, the one-week advance prices are already significantly higher than the five-week advance prices for rentals beginning a week from now. .

Fig. 6. 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?

The progression of advance reservation prices for a one week rental starting tomorrow, October 27, is illustrated in the price chart in Figure 6.

Off-OGG OGG Days in Advance

$668.00 $589.00 1 (last-minute)

$195.00 $355.00 8 (one week)

$187.00 $289.00 15 (two weeks)

$306.00 $294.00 22 (three weeks)

$195.00 $265.00 29 (four weeks)

$165.00 $309.00 36 (five weeks)

The price for a rental starting tomorrow has increased dramatically over the last five weeks. This held true both for airport rentals and off-airport rentals. The last-minute price for an off-airport rental starting tomorrow more than tripled from the advance price of $165/week available five weeks ago for the same rental. The price for a rental at the airport nearly doubled.

We take these price movements as an indication that actual demand is in excess of expected demand - i.e. while actual demand is not particularly strong, it did exceed rental company forecast expectation, and this means operationally rental companies were caught flat-footed in their vehicle cycle.

Fig. 7. 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 7.

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 that closed or cut back operations following the Lahaina wildfires.

For this week, prices for sedans (compact and mid-size) are actually higher off-airport. Prices for Jeeps and SUV's are about the same whether rented from the airport or from an off-airport location. The only category with clear off-airport savings is minivans.

Note that for convertibles and 7-seat SUV's, there is no availability of these vehicles being reported off-airport, so airport rentals are the only option.

These prices are from our survey taken on 11/2/25, for a one-week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), beginning on Monday, 11/3/25, 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, November 3, 2025. For each airport, we report the lowest price this week and last week, and the difference percentage between the two.

11/2 10/26 CHANGE AIRPORT

$230 $228 1% Honolulu

$570 $175 226% Maui

$292 $264 11% Kauai

$686 $240 186% Kona

$276 $248 11% Hilo

This week prices for car rentals at Honolulu, Kauai, and Hilo saw only a small increase. In contrast, prices at Maui and Kona increased dramatically - about triple from last week. With these changes, Maui is the second most expensive airport, after Kauai. This is a big change from Maui's its position as the cheapest Hawaii destination for renting a car, that it held for 23 out of the last 30 weeks, while coming in second cheapest for six others

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