diff --git a/lib/kitchen/driver/aws/client.rb b/lib/kitchen/driver/aws/client.rb
index 0dca8341..aaf9b3ca 100644
--- a/lib/kitchen/driver/aws/client.rb
+++ b/lib/kitchen/driver/aws/client.rb
@@ -75,6 +75,13 @@ def get_instance_from_spot_request(request_id)
           ).to_a[0]
         end
 
+        # check if instance exists, given an id
+        # @param id [String] aws instance id
+        # @return boolean
+        def instance_exists?(id)
+          resource.instance(id).exists?
+        end
+
         def client
           @client ||= ::Aws::EC2::Client.new
         end
diff --git a/lib/kitchen/driver/ec2.rb b/lib/kitchen/driver/ec2.rb
index 78af58bd..b4bcc844 100644
--- a/lib/kitchen/driver/ec2.rb
+++ b/lib/kitchen/driver/ec2.rb
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ def destroy(state)
           # If we are going to clean up an automatic security group, we need
           # to wait for the instance to shut down. This slightly breaks the
           # subsystem encapsulation, sorry not sorry.
-          if state[:auto_security_group_id] && server
+          if state[:auto_security_group_id] && server && ec2.instance_exists?(state[:server_id])
             server.wait_until_terminated do |waiter|
               waiter.max_attempts = config[:retryable_tries]
               waiter.delay = config[:retryable_sleep]