diff --git a/src/core/manager.c b/src/core/manager.c
index 1e7dc3835..e75550bb4 100644
--- a/src/core/manager.c
+++ b/src/core/manager.c
@@ -2166,9 +2166,6 @@ int manager_serialize(Manager *m, FILE *f, FDSet *fds, bool switching_root) {
                 if (u->id != t)
                         continue;
 
-                if (!unit_can_serialize(u))
-                        continue;
-
                 /* Start marker */
                 fputs(u->id, f);
                 fputc('\n', f);
diff --git a/src/core/unit.c b/src/core/unit.c
index 29782aa68..522696352 100644
--- a/src/core/unit.c
+++ b/src/core/unit.c
@@ -2293,12 +2293,11 @@ int unit_serialize(Unit *u, FILE *f, FDSet *fds, bool serialize_jobs) {
         assert(f);
         assert(fds);
 
-        if (!unit_can_serialize(u))
-                return 0;
-
-        r = UNIT_VTABLE(u)->serialize(u, f, fds);
-        if (r < 0)
-                return r;
+        if (unit_can_serialize(u)) {
+                r = UNIT_VTABLE(u)->serialize(u, f, fds);
+                if (r < 0)
+                        return r;
+        }
 
         dual_timestamp_serialize(f, "inactive-exit-timestamp", &u->inactive_exit_timestamp);
         dual_timestamp_serialize(f, "active-enter-timestamp", &u->active_enter_timestamp);
@@ -2365,9 +2364,6 @@ int unit_deserialize(Unit *u, FILE *f, FDSet *fds) {
         assert(f);
         assert(fds);
 
-        if (!unit_can_serialize(u))
-                return 0;
-
         for (;;) {
                 char line[LINE_MAX], *l, *v;
                 size_t k;
@@ -2480,9 +2476,11 @@ int unit_deserialize(Unit *u, FILE *f, FDSet *fds) {
                         continue;
                 }
 
-                r = UNIT_VTABLE(u)->deserialize_item(u, l, v, fds);
-                if (r < 0)
-                        return r;
+                if (unit_can_serialize(u)) {
+                        r = UNIT_VTABLE(u)->deserialize_item(u, l, v, fds);
+                        if (r < 0)
+                                return r;
+                }
         }
 }