diff --git a/lib/workers/pr/index.js b/lib/workers/pr/index.js
index dcbc4b57b9d906e15da53c22b0b6788fdd00f409..255b0e4059d95e1a381daf4ea76fc4e89218221b 100644
--- a/lib/workers/pr/index.js
+++ b/lib/workers/pr/index.js
@@ -328,6 +328,11 @@ async function ensurePr(prConfig) {
     logger.info(`Created ${pr.displayNumber}`);
     return pr;
   } catch (err) {
+    // istanbul ignore if
+    if (err.message === 'rate-limit-exceeded') {
+      logger.debug('Passing rate-limit-exceeded error up');
+      throw err;
+    }
     logger.error({ err }, 'Failed to ensure PR:', err);
   }
   return null;