I don't own a body shop, but my best friend has for almost 40yrs. Any reputable shop has more work than they know what to do with. Most high volume shops pay their guys piece work. They crank em out and are not going to touch a project car with a 10' pole.
The second type of shop is the high end artist. He's going to do top notch work for top notch money and you're gonna wait.
Then there's the third type of shop. You drive by this shop all the time and wonder how he stays in business. It's the owner and the flavor of the week helper. He'll agree to do your car to get the deposit. Your car gets rolled out back with the other junk piles that have been there for years. Now you go through the routine of calling him for an update, and he talks you down for a while. About 6 months later you get a call for more money. He spread some filler and primer he had left over on a shelf to show you some progress. You give him some money and he pays his back rent, vendor, or meth dealer. The cycle starts again. This will continue till your patience, or his ability to BS you runs out. You flip out and come to get your car and he says not until you pay $2,609 in storage fees.
