By Jamey Evans
Suburban Car Rental may have moved from its location off 103rd and State Line in Leawood, but its owner wants area residents to know that by providing delivery services, he is only a call away. Suburban Car Rental is a locally owned, luxury vehicle rental service started by Chester Harvey. The business recently moved to Lenexa after starting in Leawood three years ago.
Harvey has a fleet of 17 vans, expanding from the two vans when the company started. With this expansion, Suburban Rental has had people come from out of state as far as Wichita to rent an affordable luxury vehicle for two-way road trips across the country. Typically rental vans are not as luxurious as rental cars, according to Harvey. But he sees a remedy through his company.
“I thought I should start a different type of van service for a different type of clientele, you know, a person who wants a clean van that’s worth driving down the highway,” he says. “All of these corporations just had minivans, we wanted something better.”
Harvey grew up around Tonganoxie, Ks., watching the surrounding area grow from quiet farmland into the larger bustling town, and was successful in growing two small businesses, Johnny on the Job and Harvey Environmental, into attractive offers from larger companies. With Suburban Rental, Harvey has not only grown the company into the larger fleet it is today, but is projected to become the only minority-owned rental car business in Kansas City by 2023, something he takes pride in. He believes firmly in the “first one in, last one out” mentality in order to be successful and inspire others to be successful as well.
“Sometimes people have to see you work in order to be animated themselves, to see you carving away..it takes a conglomerate of people to be successful,” he says.
Harvey believes in giving back to the community and is thankful for the Leawood community, Mercedes-Benz dealership and mayor for their support of his business. To give back, Harvey is offering free delivery to the Leawood community.
For more information on Suburban Car Rental visit www.suburbancarrental.com or call 913-549-4150.