Do not rent 15 seater van from Yellow Car Rental
On the 30th of June, my group arrived in Vancouver with 13 children. We hired a 15-seater van from Yellow Car Rental. Despite the work Yellow Car Rental puts into ensuring their search results appear on Page One of Google and despite writing blog posts about airport collection, Yellow Car Rental ignored our request to be collected at the airport. Instead, we were obliged to make our own way to 12440 Vickers Way Richmond, BC V6V 1HP. That should have been the first red flag in dealing with Bhagat Singh Brar and his Yellow Car Rental company.
On the 8th of July, the 15-seater van's axle came off in the middle of the Lion's Gate Bridge, leaving all 15 occupants - including the 13 children - stranded in the middle of the bridge.
Having left several messages on the Yellow Car Rental answer phone, I received a Whatsapp message from someone in Ontario by the name of Manpreet Sidhu requesting that we contact a collision / towing company in Richmond.
Given that all our mobile phones are UK-registered and given that we were, at the time, stranded in the middle lane of The Lion's Gate Bridge, the solution was not one which was in any way helpful.
The feedback from the tow driver who collected the van from the Lion's Gate Bridge was, "vehicle very dangerous, loose wheel nuts caused movement in the driveshaft."
As a consequence of the van breaking down, Bhagat Singh "Bob" Brar promised to reimburse our party the value of the prepaid meals we missed, as well as Ubers and the van we were obliged to hire to take us to YVR / Vancouver International Airport for our flight back to the UK.
Suffice it to write that, despite the assurances and a Whatsapp message from Manpreet Sidhu on the 13th July in which she wrote, "hello sir i told BOB already he will reimbursed he is on vacation will be back tommorow , he was agree to the amount you mentioned so please allow 2-3 days for refund", we have heard nothing back from Yellow Car Rental or Bhagat Singh Brar since.
While we would very much like to think that Bhagat Singh Brar and Yellow Car Rental will honour their promise of remuneration, of greater concern is the host of 1* reviews for similar problems. Repeatedly hiring out dangerously unroadworthy vehicles is something that needs addressing. I wouldn't wish anyone to go through the trauma and cost that our group suffered as a result of Yellow Car Rental.
We will continue to work with law enforcement and pursue all legal avenues available to us to ensure other groups do not have to suffer this kind of experience from Yellow Car Rental.
In hindsight, renting a vehicle from Yellow Car Rental and its owner Bhagat Singh Brar, someone who according to Global News and an article from July 8, 2020 has been put on Canada's no-fly list for the facilitation of terrorism by Public Safety Canada, CSIS, The RCMP and Transport Canada isn't something we'd do again.