diff --git a/aider/main.py b/aider/main.py
index dd4304168..d00de8d77 100644
--- a/aider/main.py
+++ b/aider/main.py
@@ -296,11 +296,12 @@ def main(args=None, input=None, output=None):
     if not git_root and args.git:
         if io.confirm_ask("No git repo found, create one to track GPT's changes (recommended)?"):
             repo = git.Repo.init(os.getcwd())
+            global_git_config = git.GitConfigParser([os.path.expanduser("~/.gitconfig")], read_only=True)
             with repo.config_writer() as git_config:
-                if not git_config.has_option("user", "name"):
+                if not global_git_config.has_option("user", "name"):
                     git_config.set_value("user", "name", "Your Name")
                     io.tool_error('Update git name with: git config --global user.name "Your Name"')
-                if not git_config.has_option("user", "email"):
+                if not global_git_config.has_option("user", "email"):
                     git_config.set_value("user", "email", "you@example.com")
                     io.tool_error(
                         'Update git email with: git config --global user.email "you@example.com"'