My girlfriend drives a subaru (I frequently remind her that this is wrong), -- but this is more of a general automotive question, so hopefully some of you will overlook the marque difference. Last night she drove when we went out, and her battery light keeps coming on. I asked about the light, and she said it comes on and off intermittently and she's been driving it like this for a while. While we were driving it was on the whole time. When we got home, I measured the voltage on the battery, and it's 12 volts with the car off, and almost exactly the same with the car running. I told her she shouldn't be driving it like that because it will probably leave her stranded. Today, the temperature dipped down below freezing, and I gave her my car to go to work. She is trying to find the paperwork from the shop that replaced the alternator for her earlier this year.

My questions to those who know alternators is:

1) Am I being overly dramatic in preventing her from using her car?
2) Assuming the shop makes good and agrees to replace the alternator for the cost of labor (or hopefully for free), is she OK driving 40 minutes to the garage?
3) If the shop refuses to honor their work, I'm thinking of replacing the regulator on the alternator, since the bearings and brushes on a rebuilt should still be good 7 months later. Anyone have any luck doing this?

Thanks for the advice.
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'92 245 5-speed, '92 944 GL auto