A wheelchair-accessible vehicle is a car, van or minibus that a person in their wheelchair can access, allowing them to travel safely in their wheelchair. They are ordinary vehicles adapted in one of 2 ways to take wheelchairs.
The first way is to lower the floor and fit a ramp at the rear, as in the photo above.
Vehicles with a high enough internal height may simply have a lift fitted. The lift can be fitted at the side or the rear. They tend to be bigger, van-type vehicles like The VW Caravelle (underneath).
The majority of smaller wheelchair vehicles have the lowered floor and ramp conversion, which costs up to £5000.00 to do on a new vehicle. Both conversions use four tie-downs bolted to the floor to hold the wheelchair safely in place during travel and provide a seatbelt for the wheelchair passenger, making it as safe to travel in a wheelchair as in a conventional passenger seat.
The best conversions allow the wheelchair passenger to travel on a flat surface with a good view out of the windows, reducing travel sickness. The wheelchair usually fits in the rear or middle of the vehicle, but some more expensive conversions allow the wheelchair passenger to sit at the front next to the driver.
There are also drive-from-wheelchair conversions that allow the wheelchair user to press a switch to bolt their wheelchair in front of the controls and drive, using hand controls if needed. Thorntrees Garage currently has one in stock Volkswagen Caddy '2014
All sorts of extras, such as automatic tailgates and automatic ramps, can help access wheelchair users and their families.