Trevor, you nailed it! In India, even today the concept of a 'joint family' is very common. As a guy/girl, when you graduate from school etc and get a job, you don't just move out - unless you need to move to another city for the said job. Also, growing up in India (and I believe this is still the case) I would see that when one bought a car, he/she paid full cash for it upfront because family income is mostly pooled. The concept of financing a car for 48-60 months is quite remote there.