'I'm gonna hot wire it!'
'Bill taught me how'
God, that's so bad....
I thought the same thing. What a lazy, throwaway explanation to make something move forward so conveniently. It could have easily been explained in one, very quick scene showing he and Bill doing that very thing on the road.
But then again, why would they have needed to Hotwire cars considering Jake obviously had a way to get money, and therefore, vehicles? Also, why would he have needed to explain that to Sadie? It would have seemed slightly less lazy is she had simply been intrigued by Jake's ability to hotwire a vehicle, and asked him about it.