Automatic renewals are common with all types of insurance policy. That's because most companies hope you won't noticed your renewal price has crept up. At Honest John, we always tell motorists to turn off the auto-renew on their policies. So when your breakdown cover is due for renewal, shop around and be prepared to haggle with the existing provider - money saved is time well spent.

Know what you want. There are many different levels of breakdown cover, so decide what’s necessary for you and stick to it. Don’t add extras such as European cover if you only drive locally, but consider homestart, lost keys, and mis-fuelling as useful extras.

Check for offers. You can often find discount offers for breakdown cover online and in magazines, or when you buy other types of insurance. You can even sometimes get money off when you do your supermarket shop. You should also check our deals section where can find them for you. Remember, it often pays to go away as new customers get the best deals.

Use a cashback website. When you buy breakdown cover through one of these sites, you get a percentage back when you’ve paid, making it cheaper. It costs nothing to sign up to these websites.

Also, if the scheme is part of Nectar or Tesco Clubcard, make sure you add your details as you can earn points and make savings there, too.

Plan ahead. If you know you’ll be driving abroad, do you research. Is it cheaper to upgrade closer to the time of your trip or better to pay the yearly amount? Chances are it's cheaper to pay for it just when you need it, rather than all year round. It’s also important to let your insurer know you’ll be driving abroad if your breakdown cover is bundled together with your insurance premium.

As always, make sure you have all the relevent phone numbers to hand in case the worst happens. Speaking of which, you also might want to find out about the worst case scenario. No one expects their car to breakdown abroad, but it can happen. Worse news is that it could be terminal - or at least not be able to fixed on the continent (whether that's because of parts, skills or the fault itself). So find out how you get home. If you need your car for work, you don't want to wait 12 weeks for it to be delivered to a car park in Kent and have to pay even more money to get it trailered.

How reliable is your car? If you drive a nearly new car, you may only need the most basic cover as a safeguard. However, for those driving clapped-out old bangers, the most comprehensive policy with homestart included might prove vital. Just remember most policies have a limit on the number of annual call-outs.

Shop around. As well as the big name providers, there are plenty of other breakdown services, so try them all for the best deal. Use comparison websites and remember to mention if you’re a member of any relevant association or profession that might entitle you to a further discount. To say 'thank you', many of key workers and NHS staff are able to get reduced rates.

Pets and animals. Surprisingly, some recovery companies won’t help if you have pets or animals in the vehicle. So, check the policy before you buy it and, if necessary, insist pets are included in the deal at no added cost.

Battery problems are by far and away the most common reason for RAC callouts. There are many reasons for batteries to fail, from leaving lights on to age-related wear. Batteries that aren’t charging properly could also be indicative of a wider problem with the charging system, but charging issues are covered separately in this list.

Cold weather takes its toll on older batteries, so if your engine cranks over slowly in the winter it might be worth visiting your local garage – it’s better to fix a tired battery than to find yourself stranded. It’s also worth carrying some jump leads so you can get your car going without the wait for a breakdown service to arrive. 

This covers cars where a spare is provided but can’t be fitted, either through lack of expertise or lack of tools. Punctures where no spare is available are covered separately. In many cases, even if you do have a spare wheel it is far easier and safer to wait for a recovery company to come and help out, either by towing you to a garage or changing the wheel there and then.

Cars often have very tight wheel nuts that can’t be undone with the provided wheel brace. There are also fiddly jacks to consider, which are neither easy nor safe to use, particularly at the side of a busy road or on a cold dark night. Little surprise that people so regularly call for assistance with a wheel change.

The fuelling system of modern cars has plenty of components that can fail, from pumps and injectors to simple things like seals or even fuel tanks themselves. But another important weak link is the driver – misfuelling a car is easy to do, particularly for people who live in households with one petrol and one diesel car.

Most breakdown cover providers can fix a misfuelling problem provided the engine isn’t operated after the incorrect fuel has been pumped in. Things get a little more difficult and expensive if you try to drive off with diesel in a petrol tank or vice-versa. And it can be very expensive to put right. 

This covers a broad range of potential problems – an engine is a complicated thing after all. Most mechanical failures can be attributed to age-related wear or lack of proper maintenance, so keeping your service history up-to-date is well worth the expense. That doesn’t entirely preclude the chances of something going wrong, of course.

And there is quite a list of things that fall into this category, from cam belts snapping, oil feeds blocking, turbochargers failing and many hundreds of other issues.

The death of the spare wheel has been well-documented on HonestJohn.co.uk. Many modern cars make do with a puncture repair kit, which is fine for minor punctures but useless for blowouts, sidewall damage or larger holes in tyres. In these cases the only option is to have the car towed away or a replacement tyre fitted at the road side.

The only way that is going to happen is if you call a breakdown recovery company to your aid. This kind of breakdown is categorised separately from ‘wheel change’ callouts in second place, but combining both gives far more callouts than anything else. 

Another fairly broad category, body-electrical issues can be complicated and hard to trace. They include issues with blown fuses or damaged wires and can cover anything from the ignition barrel not working properly to a broken bulb.

Most people wouldn’t bother to call out a breakdown service to repair a duff vanity mirror light, though, so you can assume most of these issues related to cars cutting out or failing to start, with the fault tracked down to something electrical like a bad earth or broken fuse.

The charging system keeps the battery topped up. If the battery doesn’t have enough charge then the car won’t start, so it’s easy to see why people would need to call out recovery when the charging system has a problem.

There are a few components in the charging system but the item most prone to failure is the alternator, whether because the belt driving it snaps or because the alternator itself wears out from age and use. Replacing the alternator usually means a trip to a garage.

A clutch is a wearable component, so it is bound to fail at some point unless the owner notices and changes it in advance. This is, of course, preferable to it failing on the road and causing you to break down, so it’s worth getting it checked at a service.

A worn clutch usually results in the clutch biting point being very high or very low on the travel of the clutch pedal. If this is the case with your car it might be worth a visit to a trustworthy garage to get it checked out and replaced - though the bill will probably quite expensive. 

The ignition system in a car isn’t just the bit where the key goes. It consists of points on older models or coils on new cars, plumbed into spark plug wires and spark plugs in petrol cars or glow plugs on diesel models. There are also various sensors and other bits and pieces, all of which can go wrong.

Keeping on top of servicing and maintenance minimises the chance of ignition system failure – though it won’t eliminate the possibility entirely. Having said that, the best way to avoid any kind of breakdown is to stick to the service and maintenance schedule for your car.

The cooling system on a car is sensitive to good maintenance – making sure the coolant is regularly changed and topped up will ensure the car doesn’t overheat, plus it will make the heater and cooler in the cabin work at its best.

Nonetheless, things wear out. Coolant pipes split, radiators leak and various other components fail with age and mileage. Overheating can lead to more serious issues, too, including engine damage – so keep your eyes on the temperature gauge. 

Use Ask Honest John to send your message (registration required)

If you experience a problem with the service from a breakdown provider, you’re entitled to complain. In the first instance, you should call the breakdown service and ask them to resolve the issue. As well as the phone call, put the complaint in writing and send it by email and registered post to be certain that it’s been received.

Should that not get a result you think is fair, the next step is the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), but this must be done within eight weeks of making the complaint to the policy provider. The FOS will look at the case, the policy terms and conditions, and give a verdict. That decision is binding for the breakdown provider, but it’s only legally binding for you if you decide to accept the verdict.

Like all insurance policies, breakdown cover is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Any firm that does not mention this in its small print should be avoided.