February 16, 2025 - Maui car rental prices remain at high season levels. Notable changes were erratic price swings for convertibles down 42%, to $1,266/week, and SUV's up 75% to $1,600/week. Other car categories (compact, midsize, minivan) saw only small changes. The cheapest cars available were at about $700/week - a level that strains affordability for most customers, giving rise to numerous complaints on our customer service phone lines. Continue reading for all the details on Maui car rental this week.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO RENT A CAR THIS WEEK?

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 February 17, 2025.

Fig. 1. Rental car prices in Maui are showing relatively small changes this week after dropping from their holiday highs previously.

Category Price Change Company
Economy $688 2% Thrifty
Midsize $918 0% Thrifty
Jeep $1,032 -7% Thrifty
Convertbl $1,266 -42% SiXT
SUV $1,607 75% SiXT
7 St SUV $1,609 54% Thrifty
Minivan $1,180 6% Thrifty

For the week of Monday 2/17/25, the lowest price for renting a car from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) for one week is $688/week from Thrifty, up 2% from last week. The lowest price for a midsize car is $918/week also from Thrifty, unchanged from last week. A Jeep is $1,032/week from Thrifty, down 7% from the week before. Convertibles fell to $1,266/week from SiXT, down 42%. SUV prices soared to $1,607/week, up 75%, from Thrifty, and minivans are $1,180/week, also from Thrifty, up 6% from last week.

MAUI CAR RENTAL PRICE FORECAST FOR 2/16/25

Based on five years of price tracking and analysis, we expect prices to rise to begin to decline from their current level. This is illustrated in the five-year average weekly price chart in Figure 2. Over the five-year period or our study, it was normal to see a mid-February high point in the prices coinciding with the Valentine's Day to Presidents' Birthday stretch at mid-month. This is the secondary price peak for the year, smaller than the Christmas peak, but well above prices for the rest of the year.

Fig. 2. Maui Car Rental Prices: A Historical price trend based on five years of averaged prices highlights a price decline from mid-February levels.

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

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

As of today 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
02/17/25 $688 $688
02/24/25 $581 $665
03/03/25 $395 $351
03/10/25 $333 $308
03/17/25 $371 $351
03/24/25 $297 $392

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

The downward trend is clearly visible in these advance reservation prices. However, note that last-minute prices may ratchet upward from these advance prices, as they usually do in periods of peak demand, with last minute prices higher than advance reservation prices.

HOW ARE PRICES IN 2025 DIFFERENT FROM LAST YEAR?

The corresponding five-week period from one year ago is also highlighted in red in Figure 3. Last year, the mid-February peak was the high point for the entire winter season, including the Christmas holiday period. Christmas 2023 visitor levels were down at unusually low levels because the then-recent Lahaina wildfires of August 2023, and this was reflected in lower than expected rental car prices over the holidays.

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.." But this week, off-airport locations appear sold out, with no cars available off-airport in any category. This is due to the smaller stocks of off-airport locations, that sell out sooner than their airport counterparts. (See Figure 4).

For this week, the only option for renting a car in Maui is from airport locations, with no off-airport rentals available.

These prices are from our survey taken on 2/16/25, for a one-week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), beginning on Monday, 2/17/25, 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 ISLAND FOR CAR RENTAL?

Here's a quick survey of the one-week rental cost for the five major Hawaii airports, for a rental beginning on Monday, Feb 17.

COST AIRPORT
$383 Honolulu (HNL)
$688 Maui Kahului Airport (OGG)
$630 Kauai Lihue Airport (LIH)
$478 Kona Airport (KOA)
$337 Hilo Airport (ITO)

For the week of February 19, 2025, the cost for a car rental in Maui is the highest in the Hawaii Islands, with the best deals in Honolulu and Hilo.

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