diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_eip.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_eip.go
index c32e41c17..6fff7fd3e 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_eip.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_eip.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package aws
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/helper/config"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/helper/diff"
@@ -43,8 +44,11 @@ func resource_aws_eip_create(
 	// the EIP api has a conditional unique ID (really), so
 	// if we're in a VPC we need to save the ID as such, otherwise
 	// it defaults to using the public IP
-	if vpc {
+	log.Printf("[DEBUG] EIP Allocate: %#v", allocResp)
+	if allocResp.AllocationId != "" {
 		rs.ID = allocResp.AllocationId
+		rs.Attributes["vpc"] = "true"
+
 	} else {
 		rs.ID = allocResp.PublicIp
 	}
@@ -65,7 +69,7 @@ func resource_aws_eip_update(
 	// properly.
 	rs := s.MergeDiff(d)
 
-	vpc := rs.Attributes["vpc"] == "true"
+	vpc := strings.Contains(rs.ID, "eipalloc")
 
 	// If we have an instance to register, do it
 	instanceId := rs.Attributes["instance"]
@@ -82,6 +86,7 @@ func resource_aws_eip_update(
 			assocOpts = ec2.AssociateAddress{
 				InstanceId:   instanceId,
 				AllocationId: rs.ID,
+				PublicIp:     "",
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -107,7 +112,7 @@ func resource_aws_eip_destroy(
 	ec2conn := p.ec2conn
 
 	var err error
-	if s.Attributes["vpc"] == "true" {
+	if strings.Contains(s.ID, "eipalloc") {
 		log.Printf("[DEBUG] EIP release (destroy) address allocation: %v", s.ID)
 		_, err = ec2conn.ReleaseAddress(s.ID)
 		return err
diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_eip_test.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_eip_test.go
index 6e6f1fd91..63f2a42f1 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_eip_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_eip_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package aws
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/helper/resource"
@@ -113,19 +114,31 @@ func testAccCheckAWSEIPExists(n string, res *ec2.Address) resource.TestCheckFunc
 
 		conn := testAccProvider.ec2conn
 
-		describe, err := conn.Addresses([]string{rs.ID}, []string{}, nil)
+		if strings.Contains(rs.ID, "eipalloc") {
+			describe, err := conn.Addresses([]string{}, []string{rs.ID}, nil)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
 
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
+			if len(describe.Addresses) != 1 ||
+				describe.Addresses[0].AllocationId != rs.ID {
+				return fmt.Errorf("EIP not found")
+			}
+			*res = describe.Addresses[0]
+
+		} else {
+			describe, err := conn.Addresses([]string{rs.ID}, []string{}, nil)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			if len(describe.Addresses) != 1 ||
+				describe.Addresses[0].PublicIp != rs.ID {
+				return fmt.Errorf("EIP not found")
+			}
+			*res = describe.Addresses[0]
 		}
 
-		if len(describe.Addresses) != 1 ||
-			describe.Addresses[0].PublicIp != rs.ID {
-			return fmt.Errorf("EIP not found")
-		}
-
-		*res = describe.Addresses[0]
-
 		return nil
 	}
 }