Why Are Maui Rental Car Prices The Highest In Hawaii In 2026?
- 17 hours ago
- 11 min read
Mar. 9, 2026. Maui car rental prices rose from last week. Across most vehicle categories, prices are up between 50% and double of last week. If they follow the expected seasonal pattern, they will rise again next week - possibly another 50% - to hit the seasonal mid-March peak for Spring Break. The cheapest car from Kahului Airport (OGG) was more then $900 for a one week rental starting Monday March 9. Prices for most vehicles are between $1,000 to $1,500 per week. Taking a step back from Maui, compared to one year ago, prices at the major islands of Hawaii are between 30% and 60% higher year-over-year - but Maui's prices are 186% higher, nearly triple year-over-year! This week's lowest price in Maui is more than double the lowest price in Lihue (Kaua'i) or Hilo and Kona (Hawai'i Island) and triple the lowest price in Honolulu (O'ahu). The latter is benefiting from a new low-cost discount player entering the market recently, which is skewing prices downward for Honolulu. Vehicle shortages caused by recalls on Chrysler minivans, Jeeps, and now Ford SUV's are certainly a driver of higher prices, but similar effects from these recalls should be felt everywhere, not just Maui. Clearly there is something at play in the Maui market driving prices even higher than anywhere else. Is it possible that operational inefficiencies of the new OGG rentacar center - officially, the Consolidate Rent A Car or ConRAC facility - may be pushing prices higher up in Maui than anywhere else.? This is an open question.
But even with Maui airport car rental prices soaring, there are some extraordinary - at least relatively speaking - good deals to be sniffed out off-airport, at locations that we do not usually track in this survey. But we are mentioning them this week, because of the exceptional circumstances this year. This week the Enterprise location in Kahului town - just a ten-minute taxi or rideshare ride away from the airport - is offering trucks and SUV's at about half the price of the cheapest compact car from the airport. Prices are similarly lower at the Enterprise location in Ka'anapali. A look into our reservation system crystal ball shows that these deals are being offered throughout the month of March - but they will not last. Book early if you want to snag one.
Continue reading for the details.
HOW MUCH IS THE CHEAPEST MAUI RENTAL CAR ON MARCH 9, 2026?
Every week, we list the lowest available prices for a one-week car rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), for a selection of vehicle categories, with the company offering the best price. This is our overview of Maui car rental prices for the week of March 9, 2026.
Category Price Company
Economy $905 Alamo
Midsize $1,016 Dollar
Jeep $1,268 Dollar
Convertbl $1,405 Budget
SUV $1,254 Budget
7 St SUV $1,951 Dollar
Minivan $1,458 Payless
The prices quoted here include all applicable taxes and fees. Prices for these vehicle types charted week-to-week for the last 14 months are illustrated in Figure 1.
These are the lowest prices in every car category: The lowest price for a compact car from Kahului Airport (OGG) was $905/week, from Alamo. Mid-size cars started at $1,016/week, also from Dollar. Jeeps were $1,268/week, also at Dollar. Convertibles were starting at $1405/week, from Budget. The cheapest standard SUV's were $1,254/week, again again from Budget, and 7-seat SUV's started at $1,951/week, also from Dollar. Minivans were $1,458/week, from Payless.
HOW MUCH DID MAUI RENTAL CAR PRICES CHANGE FROM LAST WEEK?
This is how the lowest price for a one week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG) starting on March 9, 2026 has changed from the week before, for every vehicle category:
Category This week Last Change Economy $905 $527 72%
Midsize $1,016 $586 73%
Jeep $1,268 $1,144 11%
Convertbl $1,405 $922 52%
SUV $1,254 $615 104%
7 st SUV $1,951 $1,007 94%
Minivan $1,458 $1,392 5%
This week, the price for the cheapest car from Kahului Airport (OGG) was up 72% from last week. The cheapest midsize car also rose, by 73%. Convertibles were up 52%, standard SUV's more than doubled, up 104%, 7-seat SUV's were up 94%,But Jeeps and minivans were outliers, rising only 11% and 5% over last week, respectively. Why? Because the recall-influenced prices for these vehicles were already close to a ceiling, and did not have enough headroom to rise much further.
Prices for this week and last week, with the percentage change week-to-week, are illustrated in Figure 2.
Prices are following the same seasonal pattern they do every year, dropping from mid-February peaks to lower prices at the beginning of March. .
Minivan prices appear to go against the trend because of last week's temporary surge in availability, when a significant number of recalled minivans were put back into service, leading to a short-lived glut in supply that lowered minivan prices, but quickly dissipated..
Despite this week's overall drop, prices remain high - how high? Continue reading to find out.
HOW DO MAUI CAR RENTAL PRICES COMPARE TO ONE YEAR AGO?
We previously, reported that average prices over the first week of February this year were about double what they were one year ago in many categories, and significantly higher overall. This was after prices had been in the range of 30% to 45% higher year-over-year for the month of January.
This is how Maui car rental prices look in the second week of March 2026, beginning Monday March 9, compared to the corresponding week of last year, that began Monday March 10, 2025:
Vehicle Now Last Year Change
Economy $905 $323 180%
Midsize $1,016 $411 147%
Jeep $1,268 $569 123%
Convertbl $1,405 $897 57%
SUV $1,254 $598 110%
7 st SUV $1,951 $616 217%
Minivan $1,458 $963 51%
These numbers are charted in Figure 3.
This week, prices in all categories are in the range of 50% to more than 200% higher than they were at this time last year. Economy cars are up 180% (nearly triple), midsize cars were up 147% (also nearly triple), Jeeps are up 123% (more than double), convertibles are up a modest-by-comparison 57%, standard SUV's were up 110% (more than double), minivans were up 51%, and 7-seat SUV's were up more than triple - 217%. Seven seat SUV's may be starting to see the effect of a recently announced safety recall on Ford SUV's and trucks. - in fact we have started to see Ford Expedition SUV's beginning to collect in the rental company base-yards. In the coming weeks we may see more of these going to the sidelines, and this may have more effect on prices overall.
With Maui rental car prices seeing such wild increase, let's try to put things in context, by comparing to the neighboring islands. Let's see how prices compare across the Hawaiian islands.
HOW DO MAUI RENTAL CAR PRICES COMPARE TO OTHER ISLANDS IN HAWAII?
For more than a year, we have been tracking the lowest available prices for a one-week rental at all major Hawaii airports. These are Honolulu Airport on Oahu (HNL), Lihue on Kauai (LIH), and Kona (KOA) and Hilo (ITO) on Hawaii Island. First, let's compare how the price of a one-week rental at all these airports has changed from last week. .
Airport Now Last week Change
Honolulu $268.00 $263.00 +2%
Maui $905.00 $482.00 +88%
Kauai $430.00 $435.00 -1%
Kona $434.00 $459.00 -5%
Hilo $434.00 $456.00 -5%
The lowest price this week vs. last week is illustrated in Figure 4.
At all major Hawaii airport except Maui, prices are very close to the same as they were last week. Honolulu up 2%, Kauai down 1%, Kona down 5%, and Hilo down 5%. But Maui is up 88% from last week - nearly double. What in the world would cause such a dramatically big change in Maui compared to all the other neighboring islands?
Let's compare prices in the islands compared to one year ago. These are shown in the table below and illustrated in Figure 5. Airport Now Last Year Change
Honolulu $268 $286 -6%
Maui $905 $323 180%
Kauai $430 $260 65%
Kona $434 $338 28%
Hilo $434 $277 57%
With the exception of Honolulu, which, as we reported last week, benefits from entry of a new discount player, prices at all major airports in the Hawaiian islands are up compared to last year - but they are up dramatically more at Maui than all the others. Maui's lowest rental car price for a one week rental increased 180% compared to this time last year - nearly triple. For Kauai, the increase was 65%, Kona was up 28%, and Hilo was up 57%.
WHY ARE MAUI RENTAL CAR PRICES SO MUCH HIGHER THAN THE OTHER HAWAIIAN ISLANDS?
Three things we can say based on this week's data: 1. Rental car prices in Maui are higher than the other islands. 2. They have increased more year-over-year 3. They are more volatile i.e. they are prone to larger movements up or down.
What could be causing these dramatic differences between Maui car rental prices and prices for rental cars in Oahu, Kauai, and the Big Island?
Some of the differences could be traced back to the after-effects of the Lahaina Wildfires of August 2023. Visitor numbers to Maui did drop after that, and rental companies adjusted their fleets accordingly, in 2024, reducing the number of vehicles in anticipation of reduced travel and lower visitor numbers. The holiday season of December 2023 was anemic, with historically low prices. Most likely this led to low forecasts for Christmas 2024. But for Christmas in December of 2024 there was a massive shortage of rental vehicles and record high prices - prices at levels never seen before. And this is where we come to a fork in the road. Did the rental companies increase their fleet sizes after December 2024, in anticipation of continued increasing demand in 2025? Or did they keep them at the same level? All we know is that even with a very modest increase in visitor numbers for Christmas 2025 compared to Christmas 2024, 2025 prices increased even more dramatically than the year before, to levels that we literally unbelievable. And this is where they after Christmas, in January, February, and now March of 2026.
Whatever the reason or reasons, it is apparent that there are not enough rental vehicles in Maui to meet the actual demand for rental cars, and this is leading to extraordinarily high prices. There are three ways of looking at this: 1. The rental companies have missed the ball with forecasts that underestimated demand. But is it possible that all major rental groups, Avis/Budget/Payless, Enterprise/Alamo/National, and Hertz/Dollar/Thrifty, fumbled the ball in exactly the same way at exactly the same time? 2. The rental companies have deliberately chosen to undersize their fleets on the theory that they can make more profit with smaller fleets rented at higher average price. If this is the case, how is it that they all made the same choice at the same time, and that none of them are even tempted to compete on price with the others? 3. The rental companies are all constrained by operational factors unique to Maui, that prevent them from increasing their fleet numbers to an optimal level. We believe that these constraints are tied to the opening of the new Consolidated Rent A Car (ConRAC) facility at Maui's Kahului Airport. This facility is a glorified multi-level parking garage where the rental car companies were all stuffed in together. Before that, operations were spread out in the airport's periphery, at separate rental offices and base-yards for each company. ConRAC opened in November of 2019 - just months before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down travel to the islands. When this happened, the rental companies were forced to ship thousands of idle vehicles off-island. ConRAC stood nearly deserted for a year. When travel began to recover in late 2021 and early 2022, the rental companies were operating with reduced fleet numbers, that fit easily within any ConRAC constraints. Then in 2023, after fleet numbers had begun to increase again, the Lahaina wildfires struck, and fleets had to be reduced again, in anticipation of reduced travel numbers following the wildfires. Christmas of 2023 proceeded with visitor levels at about 50% of historical levels. But after that, visitor numbers began a slow but steady recovery throughout 2024 and 2025. While numbers are still not back to their historical levels, Christmas of 2024 and Christmas of 2025 were really the first holiday seasons that rental companies had to operate out of ConRAC at something approaching full capacity. And in both holiday seasons, rental car prices in Maui set new record highs, at levels that were unimaginable before, with near complete sell-outs of vehicles at the peak of demand. Prices are continuing at record levels in early 2026.
This could be pure coincidence, and it's entirely possible that factors driving up prices of rental cars in Maui have nothing to do with the move to ConRAC - but it's worth asking the question, is there anything about the new rental facility that is constraining operations and leading to higher prices than anywhere else.
MAUI CAR RENTAL PRICE FORECAST FOR MARCH/APRIL 2026
We base our forecast for the coming month on the repeatable seasonal price movement pattern that is observed every year. So far this year, prices are hewing closely to this pattern, but at a higher level than previous years (see Figure 1). After falling at the end of February, prices come to another peak in mid-March, associated with Spring Break travel. This week we have seen price movement in that direction. For most vehicles, the price peak can be 50% or more higher than the current level. So we expect prices to be in the range of $1,200/week to $2,000/week by next week, and falling again before the end of the month. Then they will rise again in time for the Easter holiday, which this year falls on April 5, 2026. After that prices generally drop and stay low until the summer high season centered around the July 4 holiday. Will prices return to the same low season levels as last year? Or will this year's low season be at a higher level? At this moment we are leaning to low season prices 30% to 40% higher than last year.
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 6, 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
Frank Saab is a thought leader in the rental car industry, quoted by influential publications like SFgate.com. He is the editor of this blog 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
Comments