diff --git a/DependencyInjection/Compiler/DriverCompilerPass.php b/DependencyInjection/Compiler/DriverCompilerPass.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e5fade9ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/DependencyInjection/Compiler/DriverCompilerPass.php
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+<?php
+
+/*
+ * This file is part of the `liip/LiipImagineBundle` project.
+ *
+ * (c) https://github.com/liip/LiipImagineBundle/graphs/contributors
+ *
+ * For the full copyright and license information, please view the LICENSE.md
+ * file that was distributed with this source code.
+ */
+
+namespace Liip\ImagineBundle\DependencyInjection\Compiler;
+
+use Symfony\Component\Config\Definition\Exception\InvalidConfigurationException;
+use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\ContainerBuilder;
+
+/**
+ * Give a helpful exception message in case the imagine driver does not exist.
+ *
+ * Third parties can provide a driver, and thus we can only validate after the container has been built.
+ */
+class DriverCompilerPass extends AbstractCompilerPass
+{
+    /**
+     * {@inheritdoc}
+     */
+    public function process(ContainerBuilder $container)
+    {
+        $liipImagineDriver = $container->getParameter('liip_imagine.driver_service');
+
+        if (!$container->hasDefinition($liipImagineDriver)) {
+            throw new InvalidConfigurationException(sprintf(
+                "Specified driver '%s' is not defined.", $liipImagineDriver
+            ));
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php b/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php
index 0bfa4fc4f..082c9990f 100644
--- a/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php
+++ b/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php
@@ -104,14 +104,7 @@ public function getConfigTreeBuilder()
         $rootNode
             ->fixXmlConfig('filter_set', 'filter_sets')
             ->children()
-                ->scalarNode('driver')->defaultValue('gd')
-                    ->validate()
-                        ->ifTrue(function ($v) {
-                            return !in_array($v, ['gd', 'imagick', 'gmagick'], true);
-                        })
-                        ->thenInvalid('Invalid imagine driver specified: %s')
-                    ->end()
-                ->end()
+                ->scalarNode('driver')->defaultValue('gd')->end()
                 ->scalarNode('cache')->defaultValue('default')->end()
                 ->scalarNode('cache_base_path')->defaultValue('')->end()
                 ->scalarNode('data_loader')->defaultValue('default')->end()
diff --git a/DependencyInjection/LiipImagineExtension.php b/DependencyInjection/LiipImagineExtension.php
index 365907cd0..c5ada9f2d 100644
--- a/DependencyInjection/LiipImagineExtension.php
+++ b/DependencyInjection/LiipImagineExtension.php
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Alias;
 use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\ContainerBuilder;
 use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Loader\XmlFileLoader;
-use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Reference;
 use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\DependencyInjection\Extension;
 
 class LiipImagineExtension extends Extension
@@ -81,9 +80,7 @@ public function load(array $configs, ContainerBuilder $container)
             $loader->load('enqueue.xml');
         }
 
-        $container->getDefinition('liip_imagine.'.$config['driver'])->addMethodCall('setMetadataReader', [
-            new Reference('liip_imagine.meta_data.reader'),
-        ]);
+        $container->setParameter('liip_imagine.driver_service', 'liip_imagine.'.$config['driver']);
 
         $container->setAlias('liip_imagine', new Alias('liip_imagine.'.$config['driver']));
         $container->setAlias(CacheManager::class, new Alias('liip_imagine.cache.manager', false));
diff --git a/LiipImagineBundle.php b/LiipImagineBundle.php
index 90f56e4ec..44072bdb4 100644
--- a/LiipImagineBundle.php
+++ b/LiipImagineBundle.php
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 use Enqueue\Bundle\DependencyInjection\Compiler\AddTopicMetaPass;
 use Liip\ImagineBundle\Async\Topics;
+use Liip\ImagineBundle\DependencyInjection\Compiler\DriverCompilerPass;
 use Liip\ImagineBundle\DependencyInjection\Compiler\FiltersCompilerPass;
 use Liip\ImagineBundle\DependencyInjection\Compiler\LoadersCompilerPass;
 use Liip\ImagineBundle\DependencyInjection\Compiler\MetadataReaderCompilerPass;
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@ public function build(ContainerBuilder $container)
     {
         parent::build($container);
 
+        $container->addCompilerPass(new DriverCompilerPass());
         $container->addCompilerPass(new LoadersCompilerPass());
         $container->addCompilerPass(new FiltersCompilerPass());
         $container->addCompilerPass(new PostProcessorsCompilerPass());
diff --git a/Resources/config/imagine.xml b/Resources/config/imagine.xml
index ef2b9a488..223932166 100644
--- a/Resources/config/imagine.xml
+++ b/Resources/config/imagine.xml
@@ -83,11 +83,23 @@
 
         <service id="liip_imagine" alias="liip_imagine.gd" />
 
-        <service id="liip_imagine.gd" class="Imagine\Gd\Imagine" public="false" />
+        <service id="liip_imagine.gd" class="Imagine\Gd\Imagine" public="false">
+            <call method="setMetadataReader">
+                <argument type="service" id="liip_imagine.meta_data.reader" />
+            </call>
+        </service>
 
-        <service id="liip_imagine.imagick" class="Imagine\Imagick\Imagine" public="false" />
+        <service id="liip_imagine.imagick" class="Imagine\Imagick\Imagine" public="false">
+            <call method="setMetadataReader">
+                <argument type="service" id="liip_imagine.meta_data.reader" />
+            </call>
+        </service>
 
-        <service id="liip_imagine.gmagick" class="Imagine\Gmagick\Imagine" public="false" />
+        <service id="liip_imagine.gmagick" class="Imagine\Gmagick\Imagine" public="false">
+            <call method="setMetadataReader">
+                <argument type="service" id="liip_imagine.meta_data.reader" />
+            </call>
+        </service>
 
         <!--  Templating helpers and extensions -->
 
diff --git a/Tests/LiipImagineBundleTest.php b/Tests/LiipImagineBundleTest.php
index 169a197f8..e4a8a82a2 100644
--- a/Tests/LiipImagineBundleTest.php
+++ b/Tests/LiipImagineBundleTest.php
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ public function testAddLoadersCompilerPassOnBuild()
             ->with('liip_imagine')
             ->will($this->returnValue($this->createLiipImagineExtensionMock()));
         $containerMock
-            ->expects($this->at(0))
+            ->expects($this->at(1))
             ->method('addCompilerPass')
             ->with($this->isInstanceOf(LoadersCompilerPass::class));
 
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ public function testAddFiltersCompilerPassOnBuild()
             ->with('liip_imagine')
             ->will($this->returnValue($this->createLiipImagineExtensionMock()));
         $containerMock
-            ->expects($this->at(1))
+            ->expects($this->at(2))
             ->method('addCompilerPass')
             ->with($this->isInstanceOf(FiltersCompilerPass::class));
 
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ public function testAddPostProcessorsCompilerPassOnBuild()
             ->with('liip_imagine')
             ->will($this->returnValue($this->createLiipImagineExtensionMock()));
         $containerMock
-            ->expects($this->at(2))
+            ->expects($this->at(3))
             ->method('addCompilerPass')
             ->with($this->isInstanceOf(PostProcessorsCompilerPass::class));
 
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ public function testAddResolversCompilerPassOnBuild()
             ->with('liip_imagine')
             ->will($this->returnValue($this->createLiipImagineExtensionMock()));
         $containerMock
-            ->expects($this->at(3))
+            ->expects($this->at(4))
             ->method('addCompilerPass')
             ->with($this->isInstanceOf(ResolversCompilerPass::class));