diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/7762-kaovilai b/changelogs/unreleased/7762-kaovilai
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6c515123dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/7762-kaovilai
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Surface errors when waiting for backupRepository and timeout occurs
diff --git a/pkg/repository/ensurer.go b/pkg/repository/ensurer.go
index 96feeb8fa4..db1e596479 100644
--- a/pkg/repository/ensurer.go
+++ b/pkg/repository/ensurer.go
@@ -117,12 +117,14 @@ func (r *Ensurer) createBackupRepositoryAndWait(ctx context.Context, namespace s
 
 func (r *Ensurer) waitBackupRepository(ctx context.Context, namespace string, backupRepoKey BackupRepositoryKey) (*velerov1api.BackupRepository, error) {
 	var repo *velerov1api.BackupRepository
+	var checkErr error
 	checkFunc := func(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
 		found, err := GetBackupRepository(ctx, r.repoClient, namespace, backupRepoKey, true)
 		if err == nil {
 			repo = found
 			return true, nil
 		} else if isBackupRepositoryNotFoundError(err) || isBackupRepositoryNotProvisionedError(err) {
+			checkErr = err
 			return false, nil
 		} else {
 			return false, err
@@ -131,7 +133,12 @@ func (r *Ensurer) waitBackupRepository(ctx context.Context, namespace string, ba
 
 	err := wait.PollUntilContextTimeout(ctx, time.Millisecond*500, r.resourceTimeout, true, checkFunc)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to wait BackupRepository")
+		if err == context.DeadlineExceeded {
+			// if deadline is exceeded, return the error from the last check instead of the wait error
+			return nil, errors.Wrap(checkErr, "failed to wait BackupRepository, timeout exceeded")
+		}
+		// if the error is not deadline exceeded, return the error from the wait
+		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to wait BackupRepository, errored early")
 	}
 
 	return repo, nil
diff --git a/pkg/repository/ensurer_test.go b/pkg/repository/ensurer_test.go
index a5128c9b44..d480ba1a47 100644
--- a/pkg/repository/ensurer_test.go
+++ b/pkg/repository/ensurer_test.go
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ func TestEnsureRepo(t *testing.T) {
 				bkRepoObjNotReady,
 			},
 			runtimeScheme: scheme,
-			err:           "failed to wait BackupRepository: context deadline exceeded",
+			err:           "failed to wait BackupRepository, timeout exceeded: backup repository not provisioned",
 		},
 		{
 			name:           "create fail",
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ func TestEnsureRepo(t *testing.T) {
 			bsl:            "fake-bsl",
 			repositoryType: "fake-repo-type",
 			runtimeScheme:  scheme,
-			err:            "failed to wait BackupRepository: context deadline exceeded",
+			err:            "failed to wait BackupRepository, timeout exceeded: backup repository not provisioned",
 		},
 	}
 
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ func TestCreateBackupRepositoryAndWait(t *testing.T) {
 				bkRepoObj,
 			},
 			runtimeScheme: scheme,
-			err:           "failed to wait BackupRepository: more than one BackupRepository found for workload namespace \"fake-ns\", backup storage location \"fake-bsl\", repository type \"fake-repo-type\"",
+			err:           "failed to wait BackupRepository, errored early: more than one BackupRepository found for workload namespace \"fake-ns\", backup storage location \"fake-bsl\", repository type \"fake-repo-type\"",
 		},
 		{
 			name:           "wait repo fail",
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ func TestCreateBackupRepositoryAndWait(t *testing.T) {
 			bsl:            "fake-bsl",
 			repositoryType: "fake-repo-type",
 			runtimeScheme:  scheme,
-			err:            "failed to wait BackupRepository: context deadline exceeded",
+			err:            "failed to wait BackupRepository, timeout exceeded: backup repository not provisioned",
 		},
 	}