How much am I allowed to ask for in the “convenience fee”

Edit: I meant inconvenience fee. Also, I live in Georgia.

Hi all,

So 3 weeks ago I was rear ended on my way to work while in a work vehicle. They did not break and hit me at 55 miles an hour or more. I immediately had pain in my neck and back, and had an anxiety attack from the wreck (I was scared something was permanently wrong with my neck).

I was transported to the hospital via ambulance and a CT scan showed I have nothing broken. My neck and back were in a lot of pain and I was out of work for an entire week. This past week a missed another day of work (now 6 days total) because I couldn’t get out of bed from back pain.

My doctor has recommended physical therapy, and they also believe I need an MRI. They said it’s not uncommon to have more damage show up 6 months after a wreck. The car was totaled and they are giving my company $15k for it.

Since the wreck I’ve had a constant headache. Some days it’s worse than others. When I googled my issues I saw a page on Mayo Clinic saying that whiplash and injuries can be more severe if the person immediately has a stiff neck and pain (which I did) and if it’s a high speed crash (which it could have been, not sure what makes it high speed or not).

Progressive called me and the adjuster said they’d pay $7k for my previous doctor visits, etc – and they originally said they’d give me 1 month PT for $2.5K but changed it later to $4k PT for 2 months. The offered me $2.5 for the inconvenience fee, but later changed that to $3k.

I’ve only spoke to the adjuster twice and have not asked for an amount on my own, these were offered to me. I told her I needed the weekend to think about this.

I honestly don’t want to run out and get an attorney, but I don’t know exactly what to do. There is no telling how much damage I’ll from this in the future. When I said that to the adjuster she mentioned that they couldn’t pay out a lot for “soft tissue damage”. But I don’t know that’s all that’s wrong!

I can’t pick up my kids, I have a constant headache, I literally don’t sit or lay down anywhere without a heating pad. I get that in a couple of months I could be better, but I also feel like there is a possibility my life won’t be the same and I may even have disk issues in the future.

I’m worried that the offer isn’t enough. She says if I don’t agree I’ll have to go to another dept and the $3k is off the table. But what does it matter if I have doctors bills for years to come?

Would it be fair to ask for more in the inconvenience fee in case of future problems? I was thinking of asking for $5k instead of $3k, is that unreasonable? I’m not trying to get a pay out, I’m just trying to not get screwed over.