Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4427410-20151029170105/@comment-24674051-20151203183609

Actually, they never show what happened to the second car that Emma and Regina used to chase down the Bug. That was NOT the same vehicle that was used to bring the remainder of the crew back to SB from NYC. There is a chance that it was Lily's car (she probably did have one), in which case, they probably dropped it off somewhere, maybe Lily's trailer, after they reconciled Emma and Lily before heading to NYC. If not, they could have driven the car back to the trailer park and dropped it back there. No One would question a busted window in the location, it is probably an all too regular occurance.

They could also have just left the car where they were, and when the police did find it, they would return it to the rightful owner. Now, if they ran prints from the car, they would probably find a match for Emma, which would make her life difficult should she ever show up again.

The point is the car does not matter. In the grand scheme of things, that car was either lily's or somehow found it's way back to it's correct owner.

As for the Bug, I question that the beetle that Neal stole (and later gave to Emma) would be the same one that Emma drives today. That did not look like a new car even back then, and it's had at least 10 years and who knows how many thousands of miles added to it since. My personal headcanon is that Emma, at some point, ditched the original Yellow bug, but replaced it with a newer one because of the sentimental value that car style has for her. But even if it IS the original bug, I seem to recall that Neal had the VIN changed when he gave the keys to August to give to Emma. So there is no way to trace the Bug to any original owner, and Emma would not have questioned the Bug at that point in her life in any event.

So, by real world standards, yes, Emma is guilty of car theft. So is Neal. and all of the residents of SB are guilty of crimes too numerable to mention. (we won't even deal with the obvious laundry list of Regina or Rumple). It's a story. move past it.