Do not use a prybar, just the battery like Donbrew’s post says.

 

or if u have a friend that can sit in the hhr and hold the brake or set the e- brake u can open the front hood and pull the shift cable end off the shift arm on top of the trans and u can put it in nutraul that way just remember it will roll away if u don't set the brake believe me i know LOL ,,,

 

simply dismantle the wheels and brakes, extract the drive shafts from the hubs
then screw the wheels and brakes back
tie the free ends of the drive shafts to the subframe so that it does not drag along the road
after that, a neat test ride around the yard tto test the performance of brakes and other systems
on the road to travel at speeds of no more than 20 miles per hour - also for safety reasons

but first I would return the battery to the right place and put electricity on the transmission to see - suddenly it will switch neutral mode
if you've already done it - - then ignore my proposal, maybe I missed something because my English is not very good

 

Simply

 

In my opinion, this is not difficult
now I found a video on the web The guy did everything in his own yard with simple tools
He had to disconnect the hub from the lever, but did not have to dismantle the brake calipers
if you do not take into account the dismantling of the wheels - he just unscrewed 2 nuts

 

Yep, that is what I was talking about. Lol.

 

I'm not getting all these complicated ideas you folks are suggesting.
Just put a battery in the car long enough to turn the key and move the shifter into neutral. Make sure to engage the parking brake. Then you can remove the battery.
Or just hook up jumper cables to the battery cables where the battery was and other ends to a jump battery/vehicle. (careful that the cables don't touch any metal in the rear compartment)

 

^^^ Wouldn't that be too obvious?

 

It’s more funnier to try these other more complicated methods, still plausible

 

... and applying power to the system will also let one open the rear hatch which may be locked and may confuse the shop that will be working on it as they will need to put a battery in it for the diagnostics.

Hopefully the problem isn't just another dying battery problem which can cause a mess of "electronic problems", with dead or misbehaving circuits.