Collision shop for a repaint? Just don't do it.

I'm almost at the point of taking the wheels off and hauling them down when I need tires or balancing.

That's what I do. I don't need to hand someone the keys to my car, I'll just hand em the wheels. The ONLY person I've let drive my car/work on it is JJ at the muffler shop. I let him drive it up on their four post lift. Even then, I stood around under my car for a few hours while he made my exhaust. I can't think of a good reason to let a shop have my car overnight, and leaving it there for a 6 months is so far out of the question it's not even remotely a consideration.