Yeah - he recently offered to paint the car for me for free. We've been doing a lot of remodeling at his house - he pays for the materials, we do the work.

I was tempted to say "Hellen, I've seen your paint jobs, and thanks, but no thanks." (Hellen, as in Hellen Keller).

I held back and said - "When I'm ready, we can talk more, thank you."

He actually asked once if I could bring the car by so he could pull a module off of it to test another Benz he had in for repair... I declined.

As for the cost - the significant other knows the deal, and isn't pleased - especially knowing all of the other discretionary $ I've pumped into the car. I'm still trying to explain the "still cheaper than a car payment" logic.