Mixed feelings.
From mid 80s to mid noughties I went without cover. Then one day, out of the blue, my fairly new Saab cut out, ignition module failed, leaving me stranded, just before Christmas, en route to pick somebody up from hospital.
Was that a problem? No, I just called the AA and rejoined, on the spot. I had to join for a whole year and pay a suffix to allow for the fact I was already broken down, but the suffix was nowhere near as much as I’d saved over the years. Plus, being eager to please a new customer with cooling off rights, they turned up in just a few minutes. That was 15 years ago, not sure if still allowed.
A lot of bank accounts, service deals and the likes, include free breakdown cover these days. My experience is they can be ok, but usually just sub out the attendance to a local village garage with time on their hands. And if a garage has “time on their hands” it may be for a reason, ie the locals know they are cowboys.