diff --git a/tests/e2e/e2e_http.py b/tests/e2e/e2e_http.py
index f4db88b1e19..cb6fc7a01e5 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/e2e_http.py
+++ b/tests/e2e/e2e_http.py
@@ -75,6 +75,8 @@ class NetworkError(BaseModel):
 
 class UnauthorizedError(BaseModel):
     kind: Literal["unauthorized"] = "unauthorized"
+    # litellm 401s for key auth, model access, and tag routing alike, so keep the body to tell them apart.
+    body: str = ""
 
 
 class RateLimitedError(BaseModel):
@@ -289,7 +291,7 @@ def _classify[R: BaseModel](
     resp: requests.Response, response_type: type[R]
 ) -> Result[R]:
     if resp.status_code == 401:
-        return UnauthorizedError()
+        return UnauthorizedError(body=resp.text)
     if resp.status_code == 429:
         return RateLimitedError(body=resp.text)
     if not resp.ok:
diff --git a/tests/e2e/router/test_auto_router_regressions_e2e.py b/tests/e2e/router/test_auto_router_regressions_e2e.py
index c6ef9cda05d..35ba2c8d3d1 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/router/test_auto_router_regressions_e2e.py
+++ b/tests/e2e/router/test_auto_router_regressions_e2e.py
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ PLAIN_MODEL = "anthropic/claude-sonnet-5"
 CHEAP_MODEL = "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5"
 STRONG_MODEL = "openai/gpt-5.6"
 MAX_TOKENS = 16
+TAG_DENIAL_MESSAGE = "Not allowed to access model due to tags configuration"
 PLAIN_SERVED = frozenset({PLAIN_MODEL, "claude-sonnet-5"})
 CHEAP_SERVED = frozenset({CHEAP_MODEL, "claude-haiku-4-5"})
 EMBEDDING_MODEL = "openai/text-embedding-3-small"
@@ -442,6 +443,9 @@ class TestUntaggedTierDeployments:
         assert isinstance(result, UnauthorizedError), (
             f"expected the tagged direct call to an untagged deployment to be denied with 401, got {result}"
         )
+        assert TAG_DENIAL_MESSAGE in result.body, (
+            f"expected the denial to come from tag routing, got a 401 reading {result.body[:300]}"
+        )
 
 
 class TestResponsesApiTagRouting: