diff --git a/lib/common/cache_file_store.rb b/lib/common/cache_file_store.rb
index 09af0714..98c0f331 100644
--- a/lib/common/cache_file_store.rb
+++ b/lib/common/cache_file_store.rb
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ class CacheFileStore
     unless Dir.exist?(@storage_path)
       FileUtils.mkdir_p(@storage_path)
     end
+
+    unless Pathname.new(@storage_path).writable?
+      fail "#{@storage_path} is not writable"
+    end
   end
 
   def clean
diff --git a/lib/common/db_updater.rb b/lib/common/db_updater.rb
index eb833ac6..c2e1a5eb 100644
--- a/lib/common/db_updater.rb
+++ b/lib/common/db_updater.rb
@@ -13,8 +13,13 @@ class DbUpdater
   def initialize(repo_directory)
     @repo_directory = repo_directory
 
-    fail "#{repo_directory} is not writable" unless \
-      Pathname.new(repo_directory).writable?
+    unless Dir.exist?(@repo_directory)
+      FileUtils.mkdir_p(@repo_directory)
+    end
+
+    unless Pathname.new(@repo_directory).writable?
+      fail "#{@repo_directory} is not writable"
+    end
   end
 
   # @return [ Hash ] The params for Typhoeus::Request