Depends on the vehicle. Late '90s, early '00s trucks and SUVs, and still some new ones, all you need is a battery sawzall and you can reach it lying on the grou

Depends on the vehicle. Late '90s, early '00s trucks and SUVs, and still some new ones, all you need is a battery sawzall and you can reach it lying on the ground. Newer vehicles and smaller vehicles it tends to be harder to get at, thief may need a jack which will slow them down and require carrying more stuff around. A lot of newer vehicles are putting at least the first-stage catalytic converter(s) (for those with two-stage systems) closer to the exhaust manifold, more in the wheel well space like where the oil filter is on Ford light diesels. I'm not sure what all the motivations are for this but it does make it a lot harder to steal as you kind of need to take the wheel off and sometimes more to get access. Of course that might just lead some thieves to take an even more destructive approach but I at least haven't seen it myself.