The Insurance Renewal Nobody Remembered Until It Lapsed

A business had carried the same liability policy for nine years, renewed every year by the same office manager, quietly, without anyone else ever thinking about it. Then she took a new job.

Nobody had the renewal date written down anywhere except her calendar, which left with her. Three weeks later, a supplier asked for a certificate of insurance, and it turned out the policy had lapsed twelve days earlier — nobody had noticed, because nothing about daily operations changes the moment a policy lapses. It just quietly stops existing until you need it.

This is Leak #3 at its most uncomfortable. Not a process failure that shows up gradually — one that shows up as a phone call you really don't want to get.

Is there a renewal, license, or filing in your business that only one person actually tracks — and would anyone notice if they missed it?