I've avoided the AA after some very bad experiences, and I foolishly gave them a second chance, but I still recall when they left a young mother with her 9 and 7 year old kids stranded late at night (I was the 9 year old), an old trucker who had stopped off in the pub car park where she had managed to pull over after brake failure, came to our aide and we got home on our own. The car was a Hilman minx as an everyday car...........
For several years relied upon cover with insurance, then moved to person based policies with RAC in 2008 as was cheapest. It has to be said the RAC has been brilliant as our fleet of everyday cars aged. In the last 12 months they have recovered us from the highlands of Scotland to London by taxi late on a Saturday, arriving in London at 3am Sunday, when the vw golf died. When our vw polo died with electrical problems they arrived within 10 minutes, spent 2 hours late at night trying to fix and then recovered us to a local garage, and then gave me a lift home which was only a mile away from garage but again late at night. As has been said, it is worth negotiating when it comes to renewal, and that is needed with the RAC, but that seems standard with everything these days, phones, utilities, insurance etc etc
I think it's when it goes really bad is when you need the good service, but it seems some of the time work is subcontracted out and dependent on local providers whoever you are with. One thing is for sure, recovering a vehicle without cover, which I did once back in 1989 teaches to always have some type of cover if just to remove your car off the motorway after an accident.