diff --git a/docs/drivers/gce.md b/docs/drivers/gce.md
index a23ba91be3..28050ca591 100644
--- a/docs/drivers/gce.md
+++ b/docs/drivers/gce.md
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ $ docker-machine create --driver google \
  - `--google-tags`: Instance tags (comma-separated).
  - `--google-use-internal-ip`: When this option is used during create it will make docker-machine use internal rather than public NATed IPs. The flag is persistent in the sense that a machine created with it retains the IP. It's useful for managing docker machines from another machine on the same network e.g. while deploying swarm.
 
-The GCE driver will use the `ubuntu-1404-trusty-v20150909a` instance image unless otherwise specified. To obtain a
+The GCE driver will use the `ubuntu-1404-trusty-v20151113` instance image unless otherwise specified. To obtain a
 list of image URLs run:
 ```
 gcloud compute images list --uri
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ Environment variables and default values:
 | **`--google-project`**     | `GOOGLE_PROJECT`         | -                                    |
 | `--google-zone`            | `GOOGLE_ZONE`            | `us-central1-a`                      |
 | `--google-machine-type`    | `GOOGLE_MACHINE_TYPE`    | `f1-standard-1`                      |
-| `--google-machine-image`   | `GOOGLE_MACHINE_IMAGE`   | `ubuntu-1404-trusty-v20150909a`      |
+| `--google-machine-image`   | `GOOGLE_MACHINE_IMAGE`   | `ubuntu-1404-trusty-v20151113`       |
 | `--google-username`        | `GOOGLE_USERNAME`        | `docker-user`                        |
 | `--google-scopes`          | `GOOGLE_SCOPES`          | `devstorage.read_only,logging.write` |
 | `--google-disk-size`       | `GOOGLE_DISK_SIZE`       | `10`                                 |
diff --git a/drivers/google/google.go b/drivers/google/google.go
index c82527b263..9daada4846 100644
--- a/drivers/google/google.go
+++ b/drivers/google/google.go
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ const (
 	defaultZone        = "us-central1-a"
 	defaultUser        = "docker-user"
 	defaultMachineType = "n1-standard-1"
-	defaultImageName   = "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/ubuntu-os-cloud/global/images/ubuntu-1404-trusty-v20150909a"
+	defaultImageName   = "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/ubuntu-os-cloud/global/images/ubuntu-1404-trusty-v20151113"
 	defaultScopes      = "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/devstorage.read_only,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/logging.write"
 	defaultDiskType    = "pd-standard"
 	defaultDiskSize    = 10
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ func (d *Driver) PreCreateCheck() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	// Check that the project exists. It will also check that credentials
+	// Check that the project exists. It will also check the credentials
 	// at the same time.
 	log.Infof("Check that the project exists")
 
@@ -229,10 +229,19 @@ func (d *Driver) GetURL() (string, error) {
 
 // GetIP returns the IP address of the GCE instance.
 func (d *Driver) GetIP() (string, error) {
+	machineState, err := d.GetState()
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	if machineState != state.Running {
+		return "", drivers.ErrHostIsNotRunning
+	}
+
 	c, err := newComputeUtil(d)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
+
 	return c.ip()
 }