To wonder if car breakdown is even worth it if you’ve been driving for years and never broken down?

I keep my cars well maintained but things go wrong. I had a 3 year old car where the exhaust fell off. Another car with an electrical fault that cut out on the motorway. I've had a tyre blowout and no spare. I've had one car crash where I required towing. I guess it depends on your mileage but when doing a lot of miles wear and tear isn't always visible.

Yep I wouldn’t be without it and I work in the motor trade
the amount of people that ring us and need help, and when I ask don’t have breakdown cover.. there’s nothing we can do so they have to pay for a tow truck

When you break down at the side of a busy motorway you’ll be grateful that the AA or whoever can come to you very quickly. It’s not fun waiting while the massive trucks fly past.

In 40 years of driving I've called mine theree times.

My cars are newish and well maintained. Once was a flat battery and I couldn't restart it, a long way from home. One was when a small object got wedged in the clutch and I couldn't change gear, a complete fluke, one was when someone drove into the back of me and the damage was such that the car couldn't safely be driven.

I could have sorted things eventually using a local garage, but the breakdown service made it much less of a headache.

I also have it for peace of mind. We broke down in Europe in our motorhome, you have to have cover there anyhow but the breakdown company were literal angels, they arranged a breakdown truck to rescue us off the roadside, Ubers from the garage to a hotel, they translated and organised all the parts and repairs and although we only lost a couple days holiday sat around in a remote hotel, we we grateful we could continue and weren’t looking at vehicle repatriation and flights home instead

I have it for peace of mind.

With my last car, I used it 3 times in 13 years. Twice for a dead battery (no warning signs in either case) and once for a puncture.
The puncture occurred on the morning I was due to check out of holiday accommodation (with my two medium to large size dogs.) They turned up, sorted out the tyre and I was able to make the 100 mile journey home.

Many years before (different car), I broke down on the motorway whilst heading home for Christmas, again with my two dogs with me. It was 23rd December and bitterly cold. The car issue couldn't be fixed at the roadside so a transporter was sent to transport me, my two dogs and the car to our destination 70 miles away. It was an absolute life saver on that occasion.

If I was just doing local mileage, I probably wouldn't bother as most local garages will come out for a reasonable price.

My parents have used it 3 times in 50+ years of driving.
Once when they'd borrowed my grandparents' car for a long journey and it just stopped.
Once when their car hit a pothole and took 2 tyres out.
Once when their almost new car refused to go into anything other than reverse at a traffic light.

Ironically they have never had to call it out for their "pride and joy" - bought 2nd hand in around 1982 and sold last year.

We've also had to call them out three times in 20 years:
Once when a pothole shattered the suspension (was only going 5mph too)
Once when the garage failed to screw back a vital screw which meant most of the oil exited onto the driveway. (garage still grovels when they see me 5 years later)
Once when I had an oil leak which wasn't obvious because it was leaking onto the engine.

Most of those we'd have had to phone round until we found a garage happy to come and pick the car up.
However if I hadn't had breakdown cover with the last, I probably would have decided to complete the journey (another 15 minutes) and then check where the smell was coming from. It wouldn't have seemed worth stopping because I would had to hope I could get enough signal to google for a number, then phone it - much easier to do from home.
It's a good thing I didn't because I would almost certainly have ended up on fire on the M25.

When you're desperately removing everything of value from your car in case of fire, then having a phone number you can just phone as you do so is really helpful.

As others have said, just because you haven't needed it, it doesn't mean you won't need it. You should haggle each year when it comes to renewal time; with your track record you should get a good discount.

I think when you are on the hard shoulder and cars whizzing past you and your life in danger you just want to get back home with as little hassle as possible.

Breakdown cover does that, without you wondering how much the tow is going to be on top of the car repair charges.

We just pay for our joint account £17 a month (£2 back if you don't use your overdraft and have 2 DDs from the account) it covers us both for AA as drivers and passengers, mobile phone insurance for both of us, emergency appliance/boiler cover which we used when our boiler packed up, travel insurance that also covers DC. I think that's the cheapest way to get all of that and I don't begrudge the cost at all £15 a month. We used the AA cover a lot with our old car and it was really comprehensive, included home start, onward travel etc.

Just to add...
Someone we know broke down about 100miles from home, catastrophic engine failure - think "big end in a bucket" and got the car towed home - it cost him £700 to get the car home as he didn't have cover.
He finally came to his senses and got cover - lucky as the tyre on his caravan blew out and he had to get breakdown out to jack it/swap for the spare.

As my dear old dad used to say, " better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it".

We use Green Flag and it covers cars and drivers so Dh, me and Ds are all covered on 2 different cars and I think it is £60? It would cost a hell of a lot more to have your vehicle recovered if it broke down.

First:
Parked up at Tesco, got £100 ish of shopping - inc frozen stuff - got back to the car and nothing. Dead.
Called Greenflag and they were there within 20 mins jumped me then drove home. Got Halfords to fit a new battery on my drive the next day.
Second:
DH found he'd got a puncture when we got home, so called Greenflag and they were here within an hour to change the tyre - lucky it was the car with a spare and not the "here's some foam" car.

I'd never be without them.

Im not sure about decent but it picks me and the car up and takes it to my home or local garage for me which is all I need really. Deffo shop around, I just add it on at the end of the quote. Im with RAC

Edited to say, that's if it can't be fixed roadside :)

One small Pothole, a not scary bang and within 45 seconds, poof the engine seized, all the oil left the car, it was classed as a write off, unfixable.

Without breakdown cover we would have been stranded in the Highlands, Hours away from anywhere. With breakdown cover, we were brought home (a mere 7 hour drive), our car was brought to the garage of our choosing.

Husband has breakdown cover as part of another benefit but we will never be without it.

Many bank accounts provide bundles such as breakdown cover, travel insurance and mobile phone insurance... i have used all of them!

Ours was just £68 p.a. with StartRescue. The fraction of the cost of a callout to a motorway breakdown or puncture which would be at least £250/£300 just for someone to attend, then extras for recovery and any parts needed such as a new tyre.

Depends where you drive, I think it's worth it if you drive a lot on motorways, you have to get recovered and it's expensive. On minor roads locally you may be able to just get a friend to come and help or a cheaper local garage.

I had it for years then eventually didn't bother as all our long journeys tended to be done in DHs car, as by this stage my car was a bit of an old banger. I used to jokingly say that I might as well drive it until it fell to bits. Then one day it did. It cost over £200 to get it recovered and brought home, and this was about 7 years ago. Wished I had roadside recovery that day.

Have you looked at someone like Green Flag rather than the likes of the AA/RAC?

I get mine free with my bank Lloyds. I've never called them out for a flat tyre as Ive always managed to change it myself but flat batteries are my downfall!
Many will cover you if you are a passenger in someone else's car

We have cover for both cars and hadn't had a call out for over 20 years until a few days after Christmas last year when a red warning light came on and the car lost power 2hrs from home.
We came home in a tow truck with the car on the back. Nearly all garages were shut between Christmas and New Year so I dread to think what we'd have done without Breakdown cover.
And our cars are well maintained and regularly serviced. So unless you never go further than 10 miles from home and have someone who could tow you to a garage if you broke down, then keep paying the premium.