2002 Transmission Valve Body

[pricingbabe]

Sigh. I'm told by the dealer that my 54K mile impala is in need of a $1150 Trans Valve Body job. (Aren't these things supposed to last longer than this? It's been acting funny for awhile.) In any case, the alternative, because we don't/can't know if the faulty valve body broke anything else, is a $2900 transmission replacement, which would be guaranteed for 3 yrs/50K miles (the valve body would only be guaranteed for 12K miles.) We are tangling with GM over who should pay for this (luckily my husband dropped a BUNDLE on a new truck from them last summer, which might help) but in the event that it's being financed by me, does anyone have any opinions on which way I should go? Also, is there any history of similar problems with this model, or where could I investigate that?

Thanks!