Episode 1 · The origin story
Sal and Vinny Ask the Questions
How Tony and this whole strange little body shop world got started, told to the two guys who asked the most questions.
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The Tony Universe
Sal, Vinny, Nicky, Tommy, and one very rude robot.
Everybody knows a guy.We know Tony.
Tony DeNaro helps good shops fight for the work they can defend.
Meet the AI behind Reclaimr and Truck Hero, and the crew that somehow came with him.
Sal, Vinny, Nicky, Tommy, and one very rude robot.
Watch Tony
You should probably meet him first.
Every episode is a real shop problem. Start with the one minute that explains everything.
More episodes land on the Hero Group AI Labs channel.
Tony at Work
Tony's a character.
Tony's a character.
The work is real.
Tony lives inside two products, built for two kinds of shops. Pick the one that looks like yours.
Tony in Reclaimr
Tony reviews estimates, finds what is missing, identifies what an insurer reduced or removed, and helps shops build the documentation to defend legitimate repairs.
See Tony in Reclaimr
Tony in Truck Hero
Different vehicles. Bigger numbers. Same problem: repair work that deserves to be found, documented and defended.
See Tony in Truck Hero
The Original Crew
Everybody here knows Tony.
The faces from the episodes. If they haven't been on camera yet, they wait their turn.
The fixer
Tony DeNaro
Calm. Direct. Already read the estimate.
The center of all of it. Guide, closer, and the only one the Insurance AI Bot listens to.
Sal “The Mouth” Morelli
Sal
Talks fast. Gets results.
Opinions on everything, delivered at full speed. Usually right. Never quiet about it.
Vinny “Two Cannoli”
Vinny
Good food. Good people. Two cannoli.
The warmth of the neighborhood, and the reason there is always a plate on the table.
Nicky Numbers
Nicky
He already ran the numbers.
Skeptical, exact, allergic to overpriced coffee. If it can be counted, Nicky counted it twice.
Tommy Martini
Tommy
Runs a shop. Has problems. Knows Tony.
A real shop owner with real shop problems. If it happened to you, it happened to Tommy first.
The antagonist
Insurance AI Bot
DENIED.
Deadpan, tireless, and the reason everybody else in this universe has a job. Go ahead, ask him to reconsider.
Rosa “Sunday Gravy” DeNaro
Grandma's Kitchen
Tony's grandmother
Not on camera yet. Runs the kitchen anyway. Everybody in this universe answers to somebody. Tony answers to Rosa.
Tony's Case Files
Stories are fun.
Stories are fun.
Receipts are better.
Real estimates from real shops, with the shop's name left off. Four different things can happen to a dollar Tony finds, and we never mix them up.
IdentifiedTony flagged it. A suggestion, nothing more.
KeptThe shop reviewed it and kept it. The shop decides, not Tony.
On the insurer’s paperworkThe same operation shows up on the insurer’s estimate or supplement.
RecoveredMoney actually paid for it. We don’t record payments line by line yet, so we don’t claim any.
2018 BMW 440i Gran Coupe
- The problem
- The insurer’s estimate came in about $4,179 under the shop’s.
- What Tony found
- 12 separate cuts: recycled and aftermarket parts swapped in on the lift gate, tail lamp and badges, the bonded quarter glass, the quarter-panel blend and molding work, and the pre- and post-repair scans.
- The outcome
- The insurer’s revised estimate went up $4,065 and now includes the quarter glass, the blends, the moldings, the fuel door and pocket, the wheelhouse liners and the seam sealer. The shop filed its own supplements in the same weeks, so Tony doesn’t get all the credit. The insurer kept the non-OEM tail lamp.
Identified$3,508 · 12 items
Kept by the shopAll 12
On the insurer’s paperworkRevised estimate +$4,065
RecoveredNot recorded
Three lines that stuck
- The problem
- Small operations that belong on the estimate and get left off every day.
- What Tony found
- 2026 Ford F-150, MNAim headlamps · $37
- 2025 Toyota RAV4, NCCooling system pressure test, A/C leak test, A/C compressor oil, masking for the radiator support · $178
- 2017 Toyota Tacoma, MNFront airbag sensor R&I · $70
- The outcome
- Each shop kept the lines and Reclaimr wrote them straight into the CCC estimate. All three are on the shop’s final bill. The F-150 line also appears on the supplement the shop filed as the insurer’s document.
Identified$285 · 6 lines
Kept and written into CCCAll 6
On the insurer’s paperworkThe F-150 line
RecoveredNot recorded
2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
- The problem
- A routine estimate. Nobody was looking for anything.
- What Tony found
- The same wheel billed twice, markup and all: $227.99 that shouldn’t have been there. Plus two operations that were missing: draining the fuel tank before the bed comes off ($93.64) and GM’s seat belt checks ($69.53).
- The outcome
- The shop kept all three. The estimate went up for the work that was missing and down for the wheel that wasn’t. Tony isn’t here to pad anything.
Identified+$163 added · −$228 removed
Kept by the shopAll 3
On the insurer’s paperworkNo later estimate on file
RecoveredNot recorded
2020 Peterbilt 579
- The problem
- A $20,020 collision estimate on a tractor, with the usual truck operations easy to miss.
- What Tony found
- 21 items, including forward radar calibration ($453.95), refinishing the underside of the hood ($394.73), cab access and fit checks, the steer-end and final safety inspections, pre- and post-repair scans, a road test, a cab water test and a seat belt inspection.
- The outcome
- The shop’s manager went through every one: 14 kept, 7 tossed, mostly marked “not needed for this repair.” The fifth-wheel inspection was already going to a sublet. Not a rubber stamp.
Identified$3,434 · 21 items
Kept by the shop$2,505 · 14 items
On the insurer’s paperworkNot on the payer’s estimate we have
RecoveredNot recorded
Shops are named by state only. Each file shows selected findings from one estimate, with amounts as the shop’s estimate priced them. The “final bill” is the shop’s own closing invoice from CCC, not an insurer approval.
Grandma's Kitchen
Tony knows estimates.
Tony knows estimates.
Grandma knows everything else.
Rosa “Sunday Gravy” DeNaro has made the same gravy every Sunday since before Tony could spell supplement. The crew shows up at one. Nobody leaves hungry, and nobody touches the pot.
“Vinny, what’s the cannoli recipe?”
“Some things are private.”
Grandma's Famous Sunday Gravy
The one everything else gets measured against. Starts before church, simmers until the crew walks in. Rosa finally let us write it down.
The Meatballs
Nicky counts them before dinner. Rosa counts them again after. The numbers never match, and nobody asks why.
Sunday Chicken Parm
Tommy's order. Every time. He doesn't look at the menu and nobody hands him one.
The Big Sunday Pasta
Beef ragu, a pot the size of a truck tire, and a standing argument about who gets the last plate. Sal loses. Sal always loses.
Next Sunday
Rosa hasn't told anyone. Sal thinks it's lasagna. Sal is usually wrong.
All of Grandma’s recipes. One pot of gravy feeds all four.
Ask Tony
Yo, Tony.What do you need?
Estimating, operations and shop process.
These answers are written by the crew, in Tony's voice. For a real estimate, the real Tony works inside Reclaimr and Truck Hero. He doesn't give legal advice, and he doesn't guess.
