diff --git a/tools/deps.nim b/tools/deps.nim
index e43f7a2b42e93..dafe7d31401e2 100644
--- a/tools/deps.nim
+++ b/tools/deps.nim
@@ -30,7 +30,9 @@ proc cloneDependency*(destDirBase: string, url: string, commit = commitHead,
     # note: old code used `destDir / .git` but that wouldn't prevent git clone
     # from failing
     execRetry fmt"git clone -q {url} {quotedDestDir}"
-  if isGitRepo(destDir):
+  if allowBundled:
+    discard "this dependency was bundled with Nim, don't do anything"
+  elif isGitRepo(destDir):
     let oldDir = getCurrentDir()
     setCurrentDir(destDir)
     try:
@@ -38,7 +40,5 @@ proc cloneDependency*(destDirBase: string, url: string, commit = commitHead,
       exec fmt"git checkout -q {commit}"
     finally:
       setCurrentDir(oldDir)
-  elif allowBundled:
-    discard "this dependency was bundled with Nim, don't do anything"
   else:
     quit "FAILURE: " & destdir & " already exists but is not a git repo"