Term life insurance coverage is easy: You get an insurance policy with a specific death benefit to get a specific length of time. For example, suppose you purchase a $50,000 policy using a 20-year term. Should you die within those 20 years, your beneficiaries receive $50,000. If you are alive after the 20-year term, you obtain no benefits and can need to buy a new policy to keep your coverage.
Car insurance companies make money when the drivers they insure don't have accidents. But there's a lot more to it than that. Besides selling other types of insurance, such as homeowners and life, companies can gain an edge by the way they are structured. In the battle of private insurers versus policyholder owned, the policyholders come out on top.