diff --git a/httputil/fake.go b/httputil/fake.go
index 4cc316e8..2081add3 100644
--- a/httputil/fake.go
+++ b/httputil/fake.go
@@ -18,38 +18,48 @@ func NewFakeTransport() *FakeTransport {
 	}
 }
 
-// AddResponse stores a fake HTTP response for the given URL.
-func (ft *FakeTransport) AddResponse(url string, status int, body string, headers map[string]string) {
+func (ft *FakeTransport) responseCollection(url string) *responseCollection {
 	if _, ok := ft.responses[url]; !ok {
 		ft.responses[url] = &responseCollection{}
 	}
+	return ft.responses[url]
+}
+
+// AddResponse stores a fake HTTP response for the given URL.
+func (ft *FakeTransport) AddResponse(url string, status int, body string, headers map[string]string) {
+	ft.responseCollection(url).Add(createResponse(status, body, headers), nil)
+}
+
+// AddResponse stores a error for the given URL.
+func (ft *FakeTransport) AddError(url string, err error) {
+	ft.responseCollection(url).Add(nil, err)
 
-	ft.responses[url].Add(createResponse(status, body, headers))
 }
 
 // RoundTrip returns a prerecorded response to the given request, if one exists. Otherwise its response indicates 404 - not found.
 func (ft *FakeTransport) RoundTrip(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
 	if responses, ok := ft.responses[req.URL.String()]; ok {
-		return responses.Next(), nil
+		return responses.Next()
 	}
 	return notFound(), nil
 }
 
 type responseCollection struct {
-	all  []*http.Response
+	all  []responseError
 	next int
 }
 
-func (rc *responseCollection) Add(resp *http.Response) {
-	rc.all = append(rc.all, resp)
+func (rc *responseCollection) Add(resp *http.Response, err error) {
+	rc.all = append(rc.all, responseError{resp: resp, err: err})
 }
 
-func (rc *responseCollection) Next() *http.Response {
+func (rc *responseCollection) Next() (*http.Response, error) {
 	if rc.next >= len(rc.all) {
-		return notFound()
+		return notFound(), nil
 	}
 	rc.next++
-	return rc.all[rc.next-1]
+	next := rc.all[rc.next-1]
+	return next.resp, next.err
 }
 
 func createResponse(status int, body string, headers map[string]string) *http.Response {
@@ -71,3 +81,8 @@ func transformHeaders(original map[string]string) http.Header {
 func notFound() *http.Response {
 	return createResponse(http.StatusNotFound, "", nil)
 }
+
+type responseError struct {
+	resp *http.Response
+	err  error
+}
diff --git a/httputil/httputil.go b/httputil/httputil.go
index 07eb8c59..804b8e52 100644
--- a/httputil/httputil.go
+++ b/httputil/httputil.go
@@ -89,16 +89,19 @@ func get(url, auth string) (*http.Response, error) {
 	}
 	client := &http.Client{Transport: DefaultTransport}
 	deadline := RetryClock.Now().Add(MaxRequestDuration)
-	lastStatus := 0
+	var lastFailure string
 	for attempt := 0; attempt <= MaxRetries; attempt++ {
 		res, err := client.Do(req)
-		// Do not retry on success and permanent/fatal errors
-		if err != nil || !shouldRetry(res) {
+		if !shouldRetry(res, err) {
 			return res, err
 		}
 
-		lastStatus = res.StatusCode
-		waitFor, err := getWaitPeriod(res, attempt)
+		if err == nil {
+			lastFailure = fmt.Sprintf("HTTP %d", res.StatusCode)
+		} else {
+			lastFailure = err.Error()
+		}
+		waitFor, err := getWaitPeriod(res, err, attempt)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -111,18 +114,25 @@ func get(url, auth string) (*http.Response, error) {
 			RetryClock.Sleep(waitFor)
 		}
 	}
-	return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to complete request to %s after %d retries. Most recent status: %d", url, MaxRetries, lastStatus)
+	return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to complete request to %s after %d retries. Most recent failure: %s", url, MaxRetries, lastFailure)
 }
 
-func shouldRetry(res *http.Response) bool {
+func shouldRetry(res *http.Response, err error) bool {
+	// Retry if the client failed to speak HTTP.
+	if err != nil {
+		return true
+	}
+	// For HTTP: only retry on permanent/fatal errors.
 	return res.StatusCode == 429 || (500 <= res.StatusCode && res.StatusCode <= 504)
 }
 
-func getWaitPeriod(res *http.Response, attempt int) (time.Duration, error) {
-	// Check if the server told us when to retry
-	for _, header := range retryHeaders {
-		if value := res.Header[header]; len(value) > 0 {
-			return parseRetryHeader(value[0])
+func getWaitPeriod(res *http.Response, err error, attempt int) (time.Duration, error) {
+	if err == nil {
+		// If HTTP works, check if the server told us when to retry
+		for _, header := range retryHeaders {
+			if value := res.Header[header]; len(value) > 0 {
+				return parseRetryHeader(value[0])
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	// Let's just use exponential backoff: 1s + d1, 2s + d2, 4s + d3, 8s + d4 with dx being a random value in [0ms, 500ms]
diff --git a/httputil/httputil_test.go b/httputil/httputil_test.go
index c8f2257b..9ceb9fb8 100644
--- a/httputil/httputil_test.go
+++ b/httputil/httputil_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package httputil
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"net/http"
 	"strconv"
 	"testing"
@@ -93,6 +94,29 @@ func TestSuccessOnRetry(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestSuccessOnRetryNonHTTPError(t *testing.T) {
+	transport, clock := setUp()
+
+	url := "http://foo"
+	want := "the_body"
+	transport.AddError(url, errors.New("boom!"))
+	transport.AddResponse(url, 200, want, nil)
+	body, _, err := ReadRemoteFile(url, "")
+
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Unexpected error %v", err)
+	}
+
+	got := string(body)
+	if got != want {
+		t.Fatalf("Expected body %q, but got %q", want, got)
+	}
+
+	if clock.TimesSlept() != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("Expected a single retry, not %d", clock.TimesSlept())
+	}
+}
+
 func TestAllTriesFail(t *testing.T) {
 	MaxRequestDuration = 100 * time.Second
 
@@ -106,7 +130,7 @@ func TestAllTriesFail(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	reason := err.Error()
-	expected := "could not fetch http://bar: unable to complete request to http://bar after 5 retries. Most recent status: 502"
+	expected := "could not fetch http://bar: unable to complete request to http://bar after 5 retries. Most recent failure: HTTP 502"
 	if reason != expected {
 		t.Fatalf("Expected request to fail with %q, but got %q", expected, reason)
 	}