Feb. 8, 2026 - Last week, we wrote that we expected February prices to rise even higher from the record high levels they had already reached. This week, they did so, dramatically. In fact, prices are at a levels that reflect a near-complete sell-out of vehicles from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG). Of the nine car rental companies with operations at the airport, Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National, Payless, SiXT, Thrifty, only four of these - Avis, Budget, Payless, and SixT - report any vehicles available for a one-week rental starting tomorrow. The other companies have zero vehicles to offer. The lowest price for a vehicle from the airport for this coming week is currently $2,483 for a one-week rental, with most vehicles in the range of $4,000/week to $6,000/week. Compared to one year ago, for the second week of February 2025, when the lowest price was $676/week, this is a multiple of 3.7x - this year's lowest price is nearly four times what it was last year for the same period. For reference, last week the lowest price was "only" double compared to the year before - this means that not only are prices higher this week than they were one year ago, but the year-to-year increase has ratcheted up to even higher levels. Off-airport, the situation is not any better. Of the three off-airport companies with shuttle service to the airport listed in the Online Travel Agent (OTA) system, Ace, Nu, and Fox, only Nu reports availability of any vehicles, with a price starting at about $4,500 for the week.

Normally, we do not track no-shuttle off-airport prices at the resort car rental locations of Kihei/Wailea or Lahaina/Kaanapali, or from the commercial center Kahului off-airport, because normally the expense and inconvenience of transportation from the airport to these locations trumps any savings in the rental cost. However, the situation is different this week. Resort locations are reporting availability at much lower prices than the airport. For Lahaina/Kaanapali, the lowest price is $1,080 for the week starting Monday Feb, 9. In Kahului, the lowest price is $1,161. In Kihei/Wailea, vehicles are available starting at $1,770 for the week. We suspect that these locations do have availability at lower prices because the OTA systems default their listings to airport locations - it takes a smart traveler to find location away from the airport, and not many travelers find these locations, so their inventory remains available.

With Presidents' Day, another important travel holiday with a three-day weekend, approaching, the squeeze on Maui's rental car prices is expected to get even worse. We are now seeing a trend of advance reservation prices ratcheting up dramatically as the reservation date approaches, and this is expected to continue. Keep reading for all the details.

Fig. 1. Prices for Maui car rental at Kahului Airport (OGG) from November 2024 to now.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO RENT A CAR IN MAUI ON FEBRUARY 9, 2026?

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 February 9, 2026.

Category Price Change Company

Economy $4,060 175% SiXT

Midsize - - -

Jeep $5,397 202% SiXT

Convertibl - - -

SUV $6,247 323% SiXT

7 St SUV $5,236 211% SiXT

Minivan $2,483 62% Avis

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 price for a compact car from Kahului Airport (OGG) was $4,060/week, from SiXT. Mid-size cars were sold out. Jeeps were up to $5,397/week, at SiXT. Convertibles were sold out. Standard SUV's rose to $6,247week at SiXT, and 7-seat SUV's rose to $5,236/week at SiXT. Minivans were the vehicles with the lowest price, "just" $2,483/week, from Avis.

Fig. 3. Maui car rental prices at Kahului Airport (OGG) this week and last week, with the percentage change..

HOW DID PRICES CHANGE FROM LAST WEEK?

This week, the price for a compact car from Kahului Airport (OGG) was up 175% from last week, nearly triple. Jeeps were up 202%, a little bit more than triple. Convertibles were sold out, standard SUV's quadrupled, rising 323%, 7-seat SUV's tripled, up 211%, while minivans increased only 62% week over week.

Prices for this week and last week, with the percentage change week-to-week, are illustrated in Figure 2.

So far in 2026, Maui car rental prices are following a similar pattern to last year. After peaking over the Christmas/New Year period, rates declined then rose again to a lower peak for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, from which they declined, to rise again into February. The peaks in this year's chart are at the same corresponding dates from year to year, and the increases and declines that we see from week to week are as expected.

The difference between this year and last year is in higher volatility, meaning that the peaks are higher relative to their base.

And an even bigger story than the week-over-week increase is rather the dramatic year-over-year increase that is a consequence of the higher level of volatility this year. Keep reading to find out how this year's prices compare with last year.

Fig. 4. Maui Car Rental Price Comparison: Dramatic Increases Noted Across All Categories from Last Year, with Economy Cars Leading at Over 600%.

HOW DO PRICES COMPARE TO ONE YEAR AGO?

Last week, we 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 week, scarcity and sell-outs have caused prices to ratchet up to levels that are beyond belief. This is how prices this week compare with prices one year ago:

Vehicle Now Last Year Change
Economy $4,060 $676 501%

Midsize - $918 sold out

Jeep $5,397 $1,109 387%

Convertbl - $2,175 sold out

SUV $6,247 $918 581%

7 st SUV $5,236 $1,043 402%

Minivan $2,483 $1,109 124%

In this second week of February 2026, prices range from more than 100% (double) to 581% (nearly 7x) more than they were one year ago in the same week one year ago. For compact cars, the increase was 501% (6x). Mid-size cars, are completely sold out. Jeeps are up 387%, nearly 5x. Convertibles are sold out. Standard SUV's are 581% higher - that's 7x. Seven seat SUV's are up 402%, that's 5x. Minivans are showing the smallest year-over-year increase, only 124%.

Clearly these year-over-year increases in Maui car rental prices dramatically outpace the rate of price inflation in the overall economy - images of hyperinflation and wheelbarrows full of cash being wheeled in to Maui's car rental counters come to mind. In one phone conversation after another, customers tell us again and again that they never imagined it would be so difficult or expensive to secure a rental car for their Maui trip.

But while all categories have increased year-over-year, the increase for minivans is less compared to the other categories. What is going on with minivans? Minivan fleet numbers have been severely limited from July 2025, when a safety recall on Chrysler minivans went into effect, prohibiting them from being rented. Since then, large numbers of minivans (hundreds) have been sitting idle in the airport rental base-yards. We believe that these vehicles are now being put back into service. This causes a temporary relative abundance of minivans, limiting this week's year-over-year rise in price compared to other vehicle categories. We saw a similar dynamic play out at the very beginning of this year when new convertibles were being put into service; at that time convertibles did increase in price from week to week, but they increased less in relative terms compared to the other categories.

HOW HAVE ADVANCE RESERVATION PRICES CHANGED FOR TOMORROW'S RENTAL?

Every week, we track advance reservation prices for future dates, one week in advance, two weeks in advance, and so on, up to five weeks in advance. When the date arrives, this gives us a history of the progression of advance reservation prices for that rental.

Prices for a for a one week rental starting tomorrow, Feb. 9, reserved in advance at earlier dates, are listed below and illustrated in the price chart in Figure 5.

Fig. 5. Maui Car Rental Costs Surge Dramatically as Booking Date Approaches: Data for February 2026 Reveals Lowest Rates 36 Days in Advance, Skyrocketing to Over $4,500 at One Day Prior.

Off-OGG OGG Days in Advance

$4,438 $4,060 1 (last-minute)

$1,265 $1,450 8 (one week)

$756 $1,106 15 (two weeks)

$870 $1,082 22 (three weeks)

$685 $984 29 (four weeks)

$537 $816 36 (five weeks)

Both for airport rentals and for off-airport rentals, the price of tomorrows rental booked in advance went up at a steady rate from five weeks ago until last week, roughly tripling over the course of four weeks. This is not entirely unexpected, it is consistent with the dynamic of high season prices.

But then, in the last week, prices roughly tripled again, in just one week! This last-minute ratcheting up from an already elevated price level indicates a severe shortage condition developing in the days just before the start of the rental.

Today's booking price for tomorrow's rental was about 700% higher (8x) for off-airport rentals than it would have been if booked five weeks ago. For airport rentals, the price was 398% higher - almost exactly 5x.

We expect the trend of substantially higher last-minute prices to continue through the end of February and into March - anyone considering a trip in that time frame is advised to book their rental car as soon as possible, no matter how high the advance reservation price may seem. It is highly unlikely that any future prices will be dropping from their current levels.

These prices are from our survey taken on 2/8/26, for a one-week rental from Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), beginning on Monday, 2/9/26, for seven vehicle categories, Economy/compact 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 .

OUR REGULAR FEATURES RETURN NEXT WEEK

That's it for a shortened edition of the blog this week. Sections of the blog including the near-term price forecast, the rental timing analysis, and the neighbor island compilation will return next week.

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.

Figure 6. Week-by-week variation of Maui car rental prices averaged over five years, from 2013 to 2018.

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 interval. 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 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