diff --git a/builtin-clone.c b/builtin-clone.c
index 4740b13067..f4accbe541 100644
--- a/builtin-clone.c
+++ b/builtin-clone.c
@@ -449,6 +449,9 @@ int cmd_clone(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		struct remote *remote = remote_get(argv[0]);
 		struct transport *transport = transport_get(remote, argv[0]);
 
+		if (!transport->get_refs_list || !transport->fetch)
+			die("Don't know how to clone %s", transport->url);
+
 		transport_set_option(transport, TRANS_OPT_KEEP, "yes");
 
 		if (option_depth)