my mom has been getting weaker and she could just barely get in/out of passenger cars. then she fell and broke her ankle an now she needs help to do most everything. since she is going to stay in a wheel chair for a while i was thinking of a van with a ramp. how does the wheel chair secure to the floor? i will take any other advice you have.

Remember that you have to tie down the PERSON as well as the chair... When I ran the city garage, our transit busses all had a wheelchair lift. Tiedown was via 4 special strap mechanisms that attached to A-track on the floor. They ratcheted, so if the chair moved around they got tighter. There was also a shoulder harness/seat belt. At the dealership 20 years ago, I had a customer in a wheelchair that drove himself. His van had a lift, and instead of a driver's seat it had a door-latch mechanism that grabbed on a pin mounted to the bottom of his chair. He could use the modified factory shoulder harness. We did an alignment on it, and the tech refused to test drive it, so I was out on the road sitting on a 5-gallon bucket...

This company has been around for a long time and might be able to give you some ideas:

https://drivemastermobility.com/

A friend of mine has a handicapped child that has been handicapped for about 30 years so he has gone through a lot of vans.

He first got the ones had the built in lift and found them to be unreliable at best no matter how much he paid, new lift or not.

He switched to one that has a rear door that allows a drop floor/ramp for loading. No hydraulics or mechanical mumbo jumbo, just a ramp that flips out and he has had great luck with them.

His child has an electric chair that is pretty heavy without the child, so that may be part of the problem, but just a thought when you are shopping.

Hope it helps some.

I suggest you also look into installing a new or used “turny” van seat

https://www.braunability.com/us/en/mobility-products/vehicle-seating/turny-evo.html

as they patient ages and has more challenges you may find that transporting them
“ambulance style” laying down on a EMT style fold flat gurney in the back of the van has advantages.
Extended Chrysler vans with “stow n go” seating adapt well to this.

If there is a car wreck with a frail patient in a wheelchair the outcome is nearly always bad.

If the patient is on Medicare there are many financial options, but many including renting first.

I have 18 years experience and have gotten both male and female patients into vans and all sizes of cars and suv.