July 13, 2025 - This week, the minivan recall that we reported previously is driving up prices on minivans and SUV's. But other vehicle prices are going into a seasonal post-holiday dip. The cheapest car from Kahului airport was just $260/week, which is just under $40/day with all taxes and fees included. On the other hand, minivans have surged above $2,000/week, and SUV's are about $900/week and up depending on the size. Mixed prices are expected to continue through the summer, until the minivan recall is resolved. 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 14, 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 14, 2025.

Category Price Change Company
Economy $260 -5% Payless
Midsize $398 -1% Thrifty
Jeep $609 +6% Budget
Convertbl $634 -30% SiXT
SUV $888 +60% Dollar
7 St SUV $1,270 +24% Dollar
Minivan $2,030 - Budget

For the week of Monday 7/14/2025, the cheapest rental car from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG)is $260/week for one week from Payless - that's down 5% from last week. The lowest price for a midsize car is down 1% to $398/week, from Thrifty. Jeeps were up by just 6% to $576/week, from Budget. After surging last week, convertibles gave back 30%, renting for $634/week from SiXT. The price for the cheapest SUV was up again this week, this time by a hefty 60%, to $888/week, from Thrifty. 7-seat SUV's rose 24%, to $1,270/week, from Dollar. And minivans, that were completely sold out last week, are now available at the airport at an exorbitant $2,030/week, from Budget.

Image. Recalled rental minivans sit unused at Maui's Kahului Airport.

IS THERE A MINIVAN SHORTAGE IN MAUI?

This week, two opposing trends are in play driving prices. On one hand, the normal seasonal dip that follows the Independence Day holiday week is being seen in economy cars, midsize cars, convertibles, and to some extent in Jeeps. This dip is a recurrent feature - we saw it last year (see Figure 2), and we also saw it every year in our five-year price tracking study between 2013 and 2018 (see Figure 3). However, this year, prices for larger vehicles (SUV's and minivans) are all being driven up by the safety recall on Chrysler minivans that we reported in our blog post of July 8. These vans are the top choice of rental operators, so their fleets are decimated. Hundreds of minivans are grounded at the airport pending inspection and repair. Prices on the few minivans that remain available have shot up. Limited availability and exorbitant pricing are forcing travelers to seek alternatives to minivans. The best options for passenger and luggage capacity are SUV's, so their prices have also shot up. Vacationing families with kids are hit particularly hard - for them, a minivan is often the only practical option, and not being able to find one or afford one is ruining many holiday plans.

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 JULY/AUGUST 2025

As of today, July 6, 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
07/14/25 $238 $260
07/21/25 $212 $273
07/28/25 $208 $251
08/05/25 $239 $270
08/12/25 $251 $265
08/19/25 $268 $293

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

For typical vehicles, prices appear to have peaked with the July 4 Holiday. They are now dipping, before they settle into their expected summer range for the rest of July and into August. However the prices for minivans and SUV's may diverge significantly from this pattern, due to the minivan recall.

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.

This price movement is consistent with the historical trend of prices that we've documented in our five-year price tracking study, that followed prices week-to-week for five years between 2013 and 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 peak around July 4 then remain at summer season levels through July and into early August, before dropping back to shoulder season levels for 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 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 a few weeks into August.

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.

For both 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 fo the week of July 14. Advance booking prices have fallen as the reservation date approaches.

For the 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 this date is illustrated in the price chart in Figure 5.

Off-OGG OGG Days in Advance
$238.00 $260.00 1
$221.00 $251.00 8
$230.00 $251.00 15
$195.00 $265.00 22
$187.00 $267.00 29
$294.00 $329.00 36

The price for a rental from the airport starting tomorrow fell from a high of $329/week five weeks ago, to just $251/week one week ago, and then rose slightly to $260/week today. By contrast, the price for an off-airport rental was $294/week five weeks ago, and it dipped to just $187/week four weeks ago, before climbing back up to $238/week today.

The movement in the off-airport price is due to more limited inventory at off-airport locations, that hold fewer cars than the larger airport lots. Even with a moderate level of demand, the off-airport locations can start to run lower on inventory, and then their pricing algorithms jack up the prices for any vehicles that remain available.

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 two categories: economy cars and minivans. In every other category, which includes midsize, Jeep, convertible and SUV, either the off-airport price is higher, or there is no off-airport availability at all. .

These prices are from our survey taken on 7/13/25, for a one-week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), beginning on Monday, 7/14/25, 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
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.

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 14.

COST CHANGE AIRPORT
$755 +81% Honolulu (HNL)
$269 -5% Maui Kahului Airport (OGG)
$345 3% Kauai Lihue Airport (LIH)
$522 +31% Kona Airport (KOA)
$304 0% Hilo Airport (ITO)

This week prices for car rentals at the five major airports in Hawaii were mixed, Honolulu had a big increase, up inexplicably by a huge 81% to $755/week, making it the most expensive this week. Hawaii Island's Kona airport also saw a big increase, up 31% to $522/week, in second place. Kauai's Lihue airport was up just 3$ to $345/week, in third place. Hilo was unchanged at $304/week, at number four. Maui's Kahului airport (OGG) was down 5%, to $269/week, making it the cheapest out of all five major airports for the second week in a row. Previously Maui had the lowest price for 12 weeks in a row, from 3/30 to 6/16. After a two week interruption, it returned to the cheapest position

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