June 1, 2025 - Prices for most vehicles are firming up as the summer travel season begins to get under way, but still in a low-season range. Economy, mid-size, Jeep, and SUV are up between 10 and 20 percent from the week before. However minivan prices nearly doubled in just one week, propelling them up into high-season range. The price for the cheapest car available to rent from Maui's Kahului airport (OGG) is an affordable $236/week with all taxes and fees included. Off-airport, the cheapest car is slightly less, at just $210/week. But minivans were $711/week off-airport and $754/week at OGG, Based on our advance price indicators, over the next few weeks prices overall should continue to rise moderately, leading to a sharp increase for the July 4 holiday. Keep reading for all the details, including the rental price forecast for the July 4 holiday period.

Fig. 1. Rental car prices in Maui are in the off-season range going into May 2025.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO RENT A CAR IN MAUI ON JUNE 2, 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 June 2, 2025.

Category Price Change Company
Economy $236 +20% Thrifty
Midsize $276 +13% Thrifty
Jeep $336 +10% Dollar
Convertbl $616 -3% Budget
SUV $313 +10% Dollar
7 St SUV $368 +10% Thrifty
Minivan $754 +89% Budget

For the week of Monday 6/2/2025, the lowest price for renting a car from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) for one week is $236/week from Thrifty; this is up 20% from last week. The lowest price for a midsize car is $276/week also from Thrifty; this is also up, 13%. Jeeps were up 10% to $336/week from Dollar. Convertibles were down from last week, by only 3%, to $616/week, from Budget. The price for the cheapest SUV was up 10% to $313/week, from Thrifty. Minivan prices showed the biggest movement, nearly doubling, up 89%, to $754/week, from Thrifty.

Moderate upward movement for most vehicle categories is consistent with the transition from low shoulder season prices to higher summer season pricing. This is what we're seeing with economy, midsize, SUV, and Jeep categories. Outliers from this moderate increase trend are convertibles and minivans. Convertible prices just capped five weeks of increases. rising from $261/week to $616/week over this period, more than double. Minivan prices have tripled in just four weeks, from $247/week to $754/week. Inventories for these two popular categories may be running lower than other categories.

Another factors affecting the supply and demand equilibrium is the seasonal off-shoring of winter inventories - over the last week, we have seen hundreds of vehicles being staged then loaded for ocean shipping. This is a part of the annual fleet refresh with older vehicles being shipped off-shore to be replaced with new inventories arriving over the summer.

Yet another factor affecting one category in particular is the delayed arrival of vehicles that were scheduled for winter but did not make it due to logistical log-jam. The category most affected is Jeeps, with hundreds that were due for the winter season arriving and being put into service just over the last few weeks. This explains the great deals on Jeeps available recently - they are renting at a discount until the temporary oversupply resolves.

Fig. 2. Maui car rental prices from the last 13 months with forecast of the coming five weeks.

MAUI CAR RENTAL PRICE FORECAST FOR JUNE AND JULY 2025

Online reservation systems are showing advance reservation prices trending upward from their current level over the next few weeks then hitting an upward spike for the week following the Fourth of July hliday. As of today, June 1, 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
06/01/25 $210 $236
06/08/25 $191 $234
06/15/25 $272 $273
06/22/25 $221 $245
06/29/25 $262 $260
07/06/25 $316 $451

Advance booking prices are rising steadily week-to-week from their current level then spiking for Independence Day. If booked today, the price for a one-week rental of an economy/compact starting on July 6 at OGG airport would be $451/week, which is 91% more than a rental starting tomorrow - nearly double. The off-airport price is $316/week, 50% more than a rental starting tomorrow.

These advance reservation prices, marked as "Forecast," are illustrated in the area highlighted in Figure 2. They show a moderate upward trend in advance prices taking place over the coming weeks, leading to a spike upward for the holiday. As we shall see below, this price movement is consistent with historical price movements from past years.

Fig. 3. Maui Car Rental Prices: A historical price trend based on five years of averaged prices highlights low prices in April and May.

WILL BOOKING IN ADVANCE SAVE MONEY FOR UPCOMING RENTALS?

For the coming weeks, advance reservation systems are showing increasing prices. But will these higher prices actually materialize, or will advance prices fall from their current levels as the future rental dates draw closer? The signals for the coming weeks based on other data are mixed. Let's review four broad indicators of price movement for the next few weeks.

Indicator 1. Historical Last-Minute Price
Looking at historical data, prices bottom out in early June, then rise into July. The average weekly price chart from our ground-breaking five-year price tracking study carried out from 2013 to 2018 is illustrated in Figure 3. It shows last-minute prices rising steadily as the date progresses from early June to early July, but not to any extraordinary level. Based on this indicator we would expect prices to move upward by about 40% from their bottom level of late-May early June to the level of the July 4 holiday. This is less than the increase currently projected in the advance reservation systems, which means the advance reservation systems may be over-estimating the price increase over the period.

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.

Indicator 2. Historical Advance Price Movement
Also in our five-year price study, we tracked the movement in reservation prices in advance of a given date: three months in advance, one month in advance, and last minute, over the same five-year period.

On average, based on five years of historical price data, for the period of early June to early July, while the last minute price does rise steadily week-to-week, it stays consistently lower than advance reservation prices during this period (see Figure 4). So, factoring this indicator, we can confirm increasing prices for the coming weeks, but the last minute-price will be lower than the advance reservation price. This means not much likelihood of great savings from booking in advance for the holiday.

This is confirmed by the advance price movement trends we found in the five-year data, that we covered in a blog post titled "When Is The Best Time To Rent A Car in Maui? " Based on the data, the peak travel periods of winter are the only time there can be significant savings from booking in advance. This makes up about five or six seeks out of the year. For the rest of the year - or nearly 90% of the time - booking at the last minute saves money.

Figure 5. 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.

Indicator 3. Recent Advance Price Movement

More recently, starting in mid-December of 2024, we have tracked the movement of advance booking prices as the reservation date approaches.

This week the last minute price for a rental starting tomorrow was just slightly less than the price booked one week in advance. However, while they are both trending upward toward the price for tomorrow's rental that was available five weeks ago (see figure 5).

Since mid-February of this year, prices closer to the reservation date have stayed consistently below the longer advance price - but the gap has been variable. At times that coincide with heavier travel holidays, the difference between last minute price and longer advance price was very small. This means that travelers wishing to hedge their bets for the upcoming July 4 holiday period and summer high season may want to lock in the advance price, even though there is some likelihood of a later price becoming available later, as the savings from booking later would not be significant, and there is some downside risk of prices spiking unexpectedly.

Indicator 4. Last Year's Price Movements

Just like the weather today is the best predictor of the weather tomorrow, last year's car rental prices could be a good predictor of the price movements coming this year. Last year we saw flat prices in May-June leading to a sharp spike for the Fourth of July holiday (see Figure 2). This is the pattern we are starting to see for this year.

To summarize, based on the indicators overall, the prices for rentals on the July 4 holiday are expected to rise substantially, or even spike upward, from the level of current rentals. However there is still a likelihood of lower prices becoming available at the last minute.

Figure 6. Cost trends for renting an economy or compact car in Maui show decreasing prices as the rental date approaches, with off-airport rentals consistently cheaper than airport pickups. The analysis is based on prices from major rental companies for a one-week rental starting May 26, 2025, including all applicable taxes and fees.

HOW MUCH WERE THIS WEEK'S LAST-MINUTE SAVINGS?

Five weeks ago, for the cheapest one-week rental starting tomorrow, June 2, the advance price from OGG was $274/week. The price meandered down and up over the last few weeks, to land at $236/week today for a rental starting tomorrow. The savings from booking last-minute was only $38 or 14% over booking five weeks in advance. The price for off-airport rentals followed a similar trajectory downward overall from its level five weeks ago, with the last minute price for tomorrow's rental lower by 7% than the price five weeks in advance.

Date Off-OGG OGG
06/01/25 $210.00 $236.00
5/25/25 $216.00 $266.00
5/18/25 $237.00 $267.00
5/11/25 $147.00 $260.00
5/4/25 $180.00 $251.00
4/27/25 $225.00 $274.00

This movement of the advance reservation prices is illustrated in Figure 5.

For off-airport prices there was a significant sweet spot at three weeks in advance, with savings of about 40% possible. There was no distinct sweet spot in the airport prices.

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?

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. "

Throughout the past winter and spring season, 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 normal pattern of prices lower off-airport is in effect for most vehicle type, with one exception, Jeeps. These seem to be short supply off-airport, with better availability at the airport, resulting in lower prices at the airport For Jeeps. This is consistent with the arrival of Jeep fleet additions that we've seen being staged and put into service at the airport lots.

Economy, mid-size, SUV, and minivan, the prices off-airport are lower than the airport prices.

These prices are from our survey taken on 6/1/25, for a one-week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), beginning on Monday, 6/2/25, 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, June 2.

COST CHANGE AIRPORT
$743 194% Honolulu (HNL)
$241 +26% Maui Kahului Airport (OGG)
$350 -5% Kauai Lihue Airport (LIH)
$248 +7% Kona Airport (KOA)
$259 +12% Hilo Airport (ITO)

This week prices for car rentals at most of Hawaii's major island airports saw moderate upward movement from last week. Maui is up 26%, Kona is up 7%, and Hilo is up 12%, while Kauai is down but only by 5%,. The outlier is Honolulu airport (HNL), up 194%, nearly tripling from last week's price, making it the most expensive island to rent a car. Sudden spikes in the rental price on one island, uncorrelated with other islands, can be due to special events taking place locally, like for example the Merrie Monarch Hawaiian Culture Festival that drove prices up in HIo and Kona a few weeks ago. For this week in Oahu, it is not clear what is causing the price spike. Meanwhile, rates at Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) remain the cheapest of all the islands, for the tenth week in a row, but only a nudge cheaper than Kona.

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