You're spot on Ann with the stupid story lines cropping up one after the other in Emmerdale.
Ka'ee down the well, Edna's financial problems(which seem to have gone away, was her dog cured? I don't know), the body in the woods, Rhona's pills, Nikil & Gennie buying the B&B, Bob & Brenda's secret wedding, and now Laurel's car hijacking. No doubt there are many I forgotten.
In the real world, if such a thing happened, and you saw your stolen car in the local crook's garage, you would immediately phone the police. Not in EE. They spoke to Cain and he promised to get the name of the bloke it came from, yeh right. It came as no surprise that after Laurel did eventually phone the police and they visited Cain he denied all knowledge of the car.