July 27, 2025 - This week, prices for both minivans and SUV's are being pushed up by the minivan recall that we reported previously. But other vehicle prices are dipping down from their summer seasonal highs. The cheapest car from Kahului airport was just $277/week, which is about $40/day With Taxes and Fees (WTF) included. Convertibles are available for an unusually low price of $354/week WTF, which makes them an incredibly good deal. But prices for SUV's are more than twice their median for the last 52 weeks. And minivans, with most units sidelined, have only sporadic availability. Mixed prices are expected to continue through the end of the summer, or until the minivan recall is resolved, whichever comes first. Continue reading for all the details.

Fig. 1. Rental car prices in Maui are mixed in July 2025, with minivans and SUV's up sharply.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO RENT A CAR IN MAUI ON JULY 28, 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 July 28, 2025.

Category Price Change Company
Economy $277 -12% Budget
Midsize $322 -6% Thrifty
Jeep $484 -26% Payless
Convertbl $354 -4% Payless
SUV $844 +44% Dollar
7 St SUV $1,238 +40% Thrifty
Minivan - - -

For the week of Monday 7/28/2025, the cheapest rental car from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) is $277/week for one week from Budget- that's down 12% from last week. The lowest price for a midsize car is down 6% to $322/week, from Thrifty. Jeeps were down 26% to $484/week, from Payless - this price is 14% below the median price for the last 52 weeks, making it a good deal for these vehicles. The discount for convertibles is even better: they are down for the third week in a row, this time by 4%, to $354/week from Payless, which is 44% below the 52-week median price - almost fire sale level. But the price for for the cheapest SUV was up, by 44%, to $844/week, from Dollar. 7-seat SUV's also rose, by 40%, to $1,238/week, from Thrifty. Minivan availability was sporadic; at the time of this writing, there were zero minivans available from Kahului airport (OGG). The off-airport price today was more than $4,000/week WTF.

WHAT FACTORS ARE DRIVING MAUI RENTAL CAR PRICES THIS WEEK?

We can gain some insight into the current market conditions by comparing the current price in each vehicle category to its median price over the last 52 weeks.

Vehicle Price Median Premium/Discount
Economy $277 $275 +1%
Midsize $322 $340 -5%
Jeep $484 $563 -14%
Convertbl $354 $631 -44%
SUV $844 $397 113%
7 st SUV $1,238 $568 118%
Minivan - $664 -

For economy/compact, midsize, Jeep, and convertible, the current price is at or below the median price from the elapsed year. This reflects the normal level for summer season pricing, past the July 4 holiday peak. Economy cars are just 1% above their median. Midsize cars are 5% below the median price. Jeeps are at a 14% discount to the median price. And convertibles are at a deep discount of 44% relative to the median price - just more than half. But SUV's are more than twice their median price for the last 52 weeks. Standard SUV's are at a 113% premium over the median, and 7-seat SUVs are at a 118% premium. The price for SUV's has been driven up by the minivan shortage. With seating and luggage capacity comparable to minivans, SUV's are the second choice for customers who may have had minivan reservations that was canceled or who may have been considering a minivan rental. When it comes to minivans, there is no meaningful price comparison currently, as availability is sporadic, and prices are varying wildly from day to day or even hour by hour. As we reported, nearly all airport fleet minivans have been pulled from service pending recall service. Off-airport availability is also extremely limited, and the only price we found today was an outrageous $4,000/week from one of the off-airport providers.

Fig. 2. Maui car rental prices from the last 13 months, with advance reservation prices for the coming five weeks.

MAUI CAR RENTAL PRICE FORECAST FOR AUGUST 2025

As of today, July 27, 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 dates shown:

DATE OFF-OGG OGG
07/28/25 $202 $277
08/05/25 $168 $231
08/12/25 $173 $216
08/19/25 $201 $245
08/26/25 $252 $270
09/022/25 $280 $322

These advance reservation prices, marked as "Forecast," are illustrated in the area highlighted in Figure 2.

For the economy/compact category, prices appear to be past their summer high season level, and they are now dipping down into the early part of August.

Advance reservation systems are showing the prices firming up again toward the end of August, in time for the Labor Day holiday. However, for the last two major holidays, Memorial Day and and Independence Day, high advance prices fizzled out, i,e, as the holiday dates approached, actual prices were lower than the advance prices. We expect this trend to continue for the upcoming Labor day holiday.

Figure 3. Average car rental costs in Maui from 2013 to 2018 show significant fluctuations, with a notable spikes in late December and mid-February, and a marked increase during the next five-week period highlighted in red.

And supporting this, we do not see any Labor day bump in our historical data that covers five years of week-by-week pricing for five years from 2013 through 2018.

The five-year average prices showing the seasonal variation throughout a year are illustrated in the price chart in figure 3.

Historically, between 2013 and 2018, prices fall from their summer high season levels in August, and stay at a depressed shoulder season level from then on through most of September.

Figure 4. Price trends for a one-week car rental in Maui from December 2024 to May 2025 show variations based on booking timings: one day, one week, and five weeks in advance.

More recently, this same pattern was repeated again last year in summer and fall of 2024, as illustrated in the price chart in Figure 2. In summer 2024, prices peaked for July 4, then dipped and leveled off for August and September.

IS IT CHEAPER TO BOOK AT THE LAST MINUTE?

Beginning in mid-December of 2024, we have tracked 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.

We've seen longer range prices for reservations made five weeks in advance showing peaks coinciding with expected busy travel periods, the most recent being Memorial Day and Independence Day - and now upcoming Labor Day

But for both recent holidays, advance prices fizzled down to a much lower level for last minute bookings. This is shown in the price chart of Figure 4.

Figure 5. Advance booking prices vs. lead times for the cheapest cars available to rent for the week of July 21. Advance booking prices have gone up as the reservation date approaches.

For this coming week's rentals, the last minute price available today is lower than the price available five weeks ago. This holds true for both airport rentals and off-airport rentals.

The progression of advance reservation prices for a one week rental starting tomorrow, July 28, is illustrated in the price chart in Figure 5.

Off-OGG OGG Days in Advance
$202.00 $277.00 1
$219.00 $271.00 8
$208.00 $251.00 15
$254.00 $263.00 22
$254.00 $282.00 29
$254.00 $287.00 36

The price for a rental from the airport starting tomorrow went down from $287/week five weeks ago, to a low price of $251/week two weeks ago, then rose again to hit $277/week today. The price for an off-airport rental beginning tomorrow also came down, from $254/week if booked five weeks ago, to just $202/week if booked today.

Fig. 6. 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?

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

However, in recent months, we have seen a disruption of the historical pattern, with off-airport prices frequently higher than airport prices. This may be due to off-airport locations cutting back on inventory and operations in the difficult business environment that came after the Lahaina wildfires of August 2023. .

The airport vs. off-airport prices for this week are illustrated in Figure 6.

This week, we are seeing off-airport prices lower than airport prices in only one category, economy cars, SUV's, and minivans. In every other category, which includes midsize, Jeep, convertible, SUV, 7-seat SUV, and minivan, either the airport price is lower, or there is no off-airport availability at all.

These prices are from our survey taken on 7/27/25, for a one-week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), beginning on Monday, 7/28/25, 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 previously, there are fundamental factors that contribute historically to higher prices from the airport.

1. Higher mandatory taxes and fees that are added to the cost of an airport rental, and

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.

However this model appears to be turned on its head in light of the current operational environment for the rental car business in Maui. Whether and when we see a return to the usual price pattern is unknown.

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, July 28.

COST CHANGE AIRPORT
$645 -38% Honolulu (HNL)
$278 -10% Maui Kahului Airport (OGG)
$329 -10% Kauai Lihue Airport (LIH)
$616 0% Kona Airport (KOA)
$304 +3% Hilo Airport (ITO)

This week prices for car rentals at the five major airports in Hawaii were mostly down from last week. The biggest drop, 38%, was in Honolulu, to $645/week. Despite this bid drop Honolulu is again the most expensive island to rent a car this week. Hawaii Island's Kona airport was second, at $616/week, unchanged from last week. Kauai's Lihue airport was down 10% to $329/week, putting it in third place. Hilo was up slightly, just 3%, to $304/week, in fourth place. Maui was down 10% to $278/week, the lowest of all the islands. Maui had the lowest price for 14 out of the last 17 weeks and was the second lowest for the other three.

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

This blog is 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