diff --git a/provider/godaddy/client.go b/provider/godaddy/client.go
index 6afc48a249..79f566f186 100644
--- a/provider/godaddy/client.go
+++ b/provider/godaddy/client.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 	"time"
 
+	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"golang.org/x/time/rate"
 
 	"sigs.k8s.io/external-dns/pkg/apis/externaldns"
@@ -230,7 +231,11 @@ func (c *Client) Do(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
 	resp, err := c.Client.Do(req)
 	// In case of several clients behind NAT we still can hit rate limit
 	for i := 1; i < 3 && err == nil && resp.StatusCode == 429; i++ {
-		retryAfter, _ := strconv.ParseInt(resp.Header.Get("Retry-After"), 10, 0)
+		retryAfter, err := strconv.ParseInt(resp.Header.Get("Retry-After"), 10, 0)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Error("Rate-limited response did not contain a valid Retry-After header, quota likely exceeded")
+			break
+		}
 
 		jitter := rand.Int63n(retryAfter)
 		retryAfterSec := retryAfter + jitter/2
diff --git a/provider/godaddy/client_test.go b/provider/godaddy/client_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0a3789d6a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/provider/godaddy/client_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+package godaddy
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"golang.org/x/time/rate"
+)
+
+// Tests that
+func TestClient_DoWhenQuotaExceeded(t *testing.T) {
+	assert := assert.New(t)
+
+	// Mock server to return 429 with a JSON payload
+	mockServer := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusTooManyRequests)
+		_, err := w.Write([]byte(`{"code": "QUOTA_EXCEEDED", "message": "rate limit exceeded"}`))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Failed to write response: %v", err)
+		}
+	}))
+	defer mockServer.Close()
+
+	client := Client{
+		APIKey:      "",
+		APISecret:   "",
+		APIEndPoint: mockServer.URL,
+		Client:      &http.Client{},
+		// Add one token every second
+		Ratelimiter: rate.NewLimiter(rate.Every(time.Second), 60),
+		Timeout:     DefaultTimeout,
+	}
+
+	req, err := client.NewRequest("GET", "/v1/domains/example.net/records", nil, false)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to create request: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	resp, err := client.Do(req)
+	assert.Nil(err, "A CODE_EXCEEDED response should not return an error")
+	assert.Equal(http.StatusTooManyRequests, resp.StatusCode, "Expected a 429 response")
+
+	respContents := GDErrorResponse{}
+	err = client.UnmarshalResponse(resp, &respContents)
+	if assert.NotNil(err) {
+		var apiErr *APIError
+		errors.As(err, &apiErr)
+		assert.Equal("QUOTA_EXCEEDED", apiErr.Code)
+		assert.Equal("rate limit exceeded", apiErr.Message)
+	}
+}