January 19, 2025 - Prices for nearly all Maui rental car categories are up from the previous week. The only exception is for minivans, unchanged from last week at $824/week, which makes them the cheapest vehicles to rent for this week. The priciest are convertibles, at $1,367/week. Other vehicle types were in the range of about $900 to $1,100 per week. This is the second week in a row that prices have moved up from the previous week. This winter's rental car shortage continues to affect off-airport rental locations, that show zero availability this week for popular vehicle types like mid-size, Jeep, and 7-seat SUV, and super-elevated prices for other categories. 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.

Category Price Change Company
Economy $824 48% Payless
Midsize $984 29% Avis
Jeep $968 19% Budget
Convertbl $1,367 22% Payless
SUV $1,082 95% Avis
7 St SUV $1,140 69% Avis
Minivan $824 0% Payless

This week, the lowest price for renting a car from OGG for one week is $824/week from Payless, up 48% from last week. A midsize car is $984/week from Avis, up 29% from last week. A Jeep is $968/week from Budget, up 19% from the week before. Convertibles are $1,367/week from Payless, up 23%, and SUV's are $556/week from SiXT, up 29%. 7-seat SUV's are $673/week from SiXT, up 22%, and minivans are unchanged, at $824/week from Payless.

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

MAUI CAR RENTAL PRICE FORECAST

Based on five years of price tracking and analysis, we expect prices to stay at high season levels for another week or two before rising again to holiday levels in February. 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 expect a drop in the rental price in the weeks immediately after the Christmas holidays, with the prices rising again in February. The portion of the chart highlighted in red is the five-week period that comes right after the holidays.

Fig. 2. Maui Car Rental Prices: A Historical price trend for one-week rentals highlights a significant price spike for the holidays, followed by a steep decline.

For the coming weeks, online reservation systems are showing advance reservation prices continuing to trend upward to a peak in early February before coming back down (see Figure 3). However it is expected that prices will ratchet upward from this forecast, as they have done every week for the past few weeks, with last minute prices higher than advance reservation prices.

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
01/19/25 $707 $824
01/26/25 $735 $511
02/02/25 $932 $884
02/09/25 $537 $747
02/16/25 $528 $708
02/23/25 $460 $688

These advance reservation prices, marked as "Forecast," are illustrated in Figure 3. The coming five-week period for the forecast and the corresponding five-week period from one year ago are both highlighted in red. Last year's prices were marked by a very weak Christmas holiday season where prices barely rose above the low season level. Last year's prices did not peak until February.

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

For anyone who has a dream of booking a Maui rental car in February, it would be beneficial to secure a reservation at today's advance rates, before the rates ratchet up closer to the date.

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." However, this week, the off-airport price is higher than the airpo rt price for two out of the four vehicle categories that show off-airport availability, with three out of the seven categories that we track showing no off-airport availability whatsoever. (See Figure 4).

The reason for this week's unusual price and availability distribution is likely because off-airport locations, that are smaller than airport locations and have a smaller inventory of cars, are low on availability during the high season.

Anyone who has a dream to save money by renting off-airport may be disappointed in the coming weeks of peak rental demand.

Fig. 4. Maui car rental prices compared - Airport vs. off-airport, for seven vehicle types.

These prices are from our survey taken on 1/19/25, for a one-week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), beginning on Monday, 1/20/25, 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, 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.

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