diff --git a/pkg/awsutils/awsutils.go b/pkg/awsutils/awsutils.go
index 24ac975ff4..d9839c8723 100644
--- a/pkg/awsutils/awsutils.go
+++ b/pkg/awsutils/awsutils.go
@@ -1224,12 +1224,13 @@ func (cache *EC2InstanceMetadataCache) AllocIPAddresses(eniID string, numIPs int
 	output, err := cache.ec2SVC.AssignPrivateIpAddressesWithContext(context.Background(), input, userAgent)
 	awsAPILatency.WithLabelValues("AssignPrivateIpAddresses", fmt.Sprint(err != nil)).Observe(msSince(start))
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Errorf("Failed to allocate a private IP addresses on ENI %v: %v", eniID, err)
-		awsAPIErrInc("AssignPrivateIpAddresses", err)
 		if containsPrivateIPAddressLimitExceededError(err) {
-			log.Debug("AssignPrivateIpAddresses returned PrivateIpAddressLimitExceeded")
+			log.Debug("AssignPrivateIpAddresses returned PrivateIpAddressLimitExceeded, but this is usually not true." +
+				"Returning nil, since we will check again by calling EC2 to get what addresses were assigned to the ENI.")
 			return nil
 		}
+		log.Errorf("Failed to allocate a private IP addresses on ENI %v: %v", eniID, err)
+		awsAPIErrInc("AssignPrivateIpAddresses", err)
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "allocate IP address: failed to allocate a private IP address")
 	}
 	if output != nil {