I know both sides of this... Dad owns a body shop, and my car took 2-1/2 years to get it out of there.
This past year Dad's business has been very slow, so he took on a '68 Firebird project a few weeks ago. Almost immediately, he was swamped with insurance work.
The owner is coming tonight to pick it up tonight so he can work on the mechanicals because Dad informed him he won't be able to work on it for a while.