It isn't that hard to get approval, is it?
I had to fly a 172 which was about a month over due on the annual. I called CASA, they pointed me to the correct form. Once the form was submitted, I had approval the same day. I wasn't happy at the cost mind you (about $200 from memory), but it wasn't my money so I didn't give it a lot of thought.
The LAME even told me that he didn't care how it got there, he'd still do the work. I didn't want to bust regs and it was easy not too.