‘The Things We Would Do for Discount Tire:’ Customer Drops Their Car Off at Discount Tire. They Didn’t Mention the Breathalyzer

"That is not worth 10 dollars an hour."

Photo by: wubfactor & Zack Yeo

Alexandra Samuels

By: Alexandra Samuels

Aug 1, 2025 at 5:00am ET

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Two Discount Tire employees recently revealed the unexpected hoops they sometimes jump through to help customers.

Creator @wubfactor, a Discount Tire worker, says a customer dropped off a car for service without mentioning it has a breathalyzer installed. That left the employees scrambling to figure out how to start it.

“When a customer drops off their car for service and leaves without mentioning the blow n go,” @wubfactor wrote in the text overlay of a TikTok about the experience.

In the 21-second video, @wubfactor and a coworker are shown trying and failing to get the breathalyzer to work so they can move the vehicle into the shop.

“The things we would do for Discount Tire,” @wubfactor adds in the caption. As of this writing, the post had racked up more than 140,000 views.

Why Do Some Cars Have Breathalyzers?

In most states, drivers are legally required to install breathalyzers—known as Ignition Interlock Devices (IID)—in their vehicles after a driving under the influence conviction. These devices are designed to stop someone from driving impaired by requiring a clean breath sample before the car will start.

IIDs work by hooking into a car’s ignition system. If the driver’s blood alcohol content is above a certain threshold, the vehicle won’t start. Courts often mandate them after a DUI to reduce repeat offenses and improve safety on the roads.

But IIDs aren’t just for DUI offenders anymore. There have been efforts to make this kind of alcohol-detection technology standard in all new vehicles.

Still, there are concerns. What happens if a car stalls in traffic? Or if a driver has a health condition, like asthma, that affects how the device reads their breath? There’s also the risk of people trying to game the system, either by having someone else blow into the device or tampering with it entirely.

Even so, IIDs are quickly becoming a central part of the national strategy to prevent drunk driving.

Viewers Applaud Workers—But Say They’re Doing Too Much

While many viewers praised @wubfactor’s dedication, others pointed out that there are safer and cleaner ways to handle cars equipped with breathalyzers.

“Call Intoxalock and they should be able to give you bypass instructions,” one commenter advised. “You will need to call from the shop landline and reverse the bypass when you are done. If you blow incorrectly, you could put the customer in [lockup] and cost yourself $50–$100.”

Another added, “Call the company number and they’ll give you a code that lasts for however long it’s in the shop.”

“There’s the phone number on the back of this device,” a third echoed. “You call them, they will help you bypass this process.”

Some viewers were baffled that a customer would drop off their car without mentioning the breathalyzer at all, let alone expect mechanics to deal with it.

“That is not worth 10 dollars an hour,” one person wrote.

“I wouldn’t make a mechanic deal with it, nor would I trust anyone else,” another said. “Lots of things can give a false reading, such as mouthwash, food, etc.”

A few viewers also questioned the hygiene of the whole situation, noting that trying to use a customer’s mouthpiece might be a step too far.

“You have no idea what kind of STDs they might have, [I] would never touch lips unless I’m dating someone,” one person commented.

“I would not blow on somebody else’s mouthpiece,” said another.

What do you think?

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“I’m not putting my mouth on somebody else’s tube,” a third chimed in.

Motor1 has reached out to @wubfactor via TikTok direct message. We'll be sure to update this if he responds.