diff --git a/builtin/mv.c b/builtin/mv.c
index fa84fcb20d..05e7156034 100644
--- a/builtin/mv.c
+++ b/builtin/mv.c
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ int cmd_mv(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	int src_dir_nr = 0, src_dir_alloc = 0;
 	struct strbuf a_src_dir = STRBUF_INIT;
 	enum update_mode *modes, dst_mode = 0;
-	struct stat st;
+	struct stat st, dest_st;
 	struct string_list src_for_dst = STRING_LIST_INIT_NODUP;
 	struct lock_file lock_file = LOCK_INIT;
 	struct cache_entry *ce;
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ int cmd_mv(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			goto act_on_entry;
 		}
 		if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)
-		    && lstat(dst, &st) == 0) {
+		    && lstat(dst, &dest_st) == 0) {
 			bad = _("cannot move directory over file");
 			goto act_on_entry;
 		}
diff --git a/t/t7001-mv.sh b/t/t7001-mv.sh
index 898a920532..f136ea76f7 100755
--- a/t/t7001-mv.sh
+++ b/t/t7001-mv.sh
@@ -174,6 +174,13 @@ test_expect_success 'do not move directory over existing directory' '
 	test_must_fail git mv path2 path0
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'rename directory to non-existing directory' '
+	mkdir dir-a &&
+	>dir-a/f &&
+	git add dir-a &&
+	git mv dir-a non-existing-dir
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'move into "."' '
 	git mv path1/path2/ .
 '