diff --git a/aider/coder.py b/aider/coder.py
index c8007f33b..2252ba669 100755
--- a/aider/coder.py
+++ b/aider/coder.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ from pathlib import Path
 
 import git
 import openai
+import requests
 from openai.error import RateLimitError
 from rich.console import Console
 from rich.live import Live
@@ -390,6 +391,24 @@ class Coder:
 
         return prompts.added_files.format(fnames=", ".join(mentioned_rel_fnames))
 
+    def send_with_retries(self, model, messages):
+        while True:
+            try:
+                return openai.ChatCompletion.create(
+                    model=model,
+                    messages=messages,
+                    temperature=0,
+                    stream=True,
+                )
+            except RateLimitError as err:
+                self.io.tool_error(f"RateLimitError: {err}")
+            except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError as err:
+                self.io.tool_error(f"ConnectionError: {err}")
+
+            retry_after = 1
+            self.io.tool_error(f"Retry in {retry_after} seconds.")
+            time.sleep(retry_after)
+
     def send(self, messages, model=None, silent=False):
         if not model:
             model = self.main_model
@@ -397,21 +416,7 @@ class Coder:
         self.resp = ""
         interrupted = False
         try:
-            while True:
-                try:
-                    completion = openai.ChatCompletion.create(
-                        model=model,
-                        messages=messages,
-                        temperature=0,
-                        stream=True,
-                    )
-                    break
-                except RateLimitError as err:
-                    retry_after = 1
-                    self.io.tool_error(f"RateLimitError: {err}")
-                    self.io.tool_error(f"Retry in {retry_after} seconds.")
-                    time.sleep(retry_after)
-
+            completion = self.send_with_retries(model, messages)
             self.show_send_output(completion, silent)
         except KeyboardInterrupt:
             interrupted = True
diff --git a/tests/test_coder.py b/tests/test_coder.py
index f703969e3..eee43897e 100644
--- a/tests/test_coder.py
+++ b/tests/test_coder.py
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ import os
 import unittest
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
+import openai
+import requests
+
 from aider.coder import Coder
 
 
@@ -117,6 +120,50 @@ class TestCoder(unittest.TestCase):
         # Assert that the returned message is the expected one
         self.assertEqual(result, 'a good "commit message"')
 
+    @patch("aider.coder.openai.ChatCompletion.create")
+    @patch("aider.coder.time.sleep")
+    def test_send_with_retries_rate_limit_error(self, mock_sleep, mock_chat_completion_create):
+        # Mock the IO object
+        mock_io = MagicMock()
+
+        # Initialize the Coder object with the mocked IO and mocked repo
+        coder = Coder(io=mock_io, openai_api_key="fake_key")
+
+        # Set up the mock to raise RateLimitError on
+        # the first call and return None on the second call
+        mock_chat_completion_create.side_effect = [
+            openai.error.RateLimitError("Rate limit exceeded"),
+            None,
+        ]
+
+        # Call the send_with_retries method
+        coder.send_with_retries("model", ["message"])
+
+        # Assert that time.sleep was called once
+        mock_sleep.assert_called_once()
+
+    @patch("aider.coder.openai.ChatCompletion.create")
+    @patch("aider.coder.time.sleep")
+    def test_send_with_retries_connection_error(self, mock_sleep, mock_chat_completion_create):
+        # Mock the IO object
+        mock_io = MagicMock()
+
+        # Initialize the Coder object with the mocked IO and mocked repo
+        coder = Coder(io=mock_io, openai_api_key="fake_key")
+
+        # Set up the mock to raise ConnectionError on the first call
+        # and return None on the second call
+        mock_chat_completion_create.side_effect = [
+            requests.exceptions.ConnectionError("Connection error"),
+            None,
+        ]
+
+        # Call the send_with_retries method
+        coder.send_with_retries("model", ["message"])
+
+        # Assert that time.sleep was called once
+        mock_sleep.assert_called_once()
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()