diff --git a/enabler/src/de/schildbach/pte/AbstractEfaProvider.java b/enabler/src/de/schildbach/pte/AbstractEfaProvider.java
index 54fa6648..151fbbd0 100644
--- a/enabler/src/de/schildbach/pte/AbstractEfaProvider.java
+++ b/enabler/src/de/schildbach/pte/AbstractEfaProvider.java
@@ -372,9 +372,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		// System.out.println(parameters);
 
 		InputStream is = null;
+		String firstChars = null;
+
 		try
 		{
 			is = ParserUtils.scrapeInputStream(uri.toString(), httpPost ? parameters.substring(1) : null, null, httpReferer, null, 3);
+			firstChars = ParserUtils.peekFirstChars(is);
 
 			final XmlPullParser pp = parserFactory.newPullParser();
 			pp.setInput(is, null);
@@ -423,7 +426,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		}
 		catch (final XmlPullParserException x)
 		{
-			throw new ParserException(x);
+			throw new ParserException("cannot parse xml: " + firstChars, x);
 		}
 		finally
 		{
@@ -495,9 +498,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		// System.out.println(parameters);
 
 		InputStream is = null;
+		String firstChars = null;
+
 		try
 		{
 			is = ParserUtils.scrapeInputStream(uri.toString(), httpPost ? parameters.substring(1) : null, null, httpReferer, null, 3);
+			firstChars = ParserUtils.peekFirstChars(is);
 
 			final XmlPullParser pp = parserFactory.newPullParser();
 			pp.setInput(is, null);
@@ -572,7 +578,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		}
 		catch (final XmlPullParserException x)
 		{
-			throw new ParserException(x);
+			throw new ParserException("cannot parse xml: " + firstChars, x);
 		}
 		finally
 		{
@@ -607,9 +613,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		// System.out.println(parameters);
 
 		InputStream is = null;
+		String firstChars = null;
+
 		try
 		{
 			is = ParserUtils.scrapeInputStream(uri.toString(), httpPost ? parameters.substring(1) : null, null, httpReferer, null, 3);
+			firstChars = ParserUtils.peekFirstChars(is);
 
 			final XmlPullParser pp = parserFactory.newPullParser();
 			pp.setInput(is, null);
@@ -654,7 +663,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		}
 		catch (final XmlPullParserException x)
 		{
-			throw new ParserException(x);
+			throw new ParserException("cannot parse xml: " + firstChars, x);
 		}
 		finally
 		{
@@ -675,9 +684,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		// System.out.println(parameters);
 
 		InputStream is = null;
+		String firstChars = null;
+
 		try
 		{
 			is = ParserUtils.scrapeInputStream(uri.toString(), httpPost ? parameters.substring(1) : null, null, httpReferer, null, 3);
+			firstChars = ParserUtils.peekFirstChars(is);
 
 			final XmlPullParser pp = parserFactory.newPullParser();
 			pp.setInput(is, null);
@@ -726,7 +738,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		}
 		catch (final XmlPullParserException x)
 		{
-			throw new ParserException(x);
+			throw new ParserException("cannot parse xml: " + firstChars, x);
 		}
 		finally
 		{
@@ -949,9 +961,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		// System.out.println(parameters);
 
 		InputStream is = null;
+		String firstChars = null;
+
 		try
 		{
 			is = ParserUtils.scrapeInputStream(uri.toString(), httpPost ? parameters.substring(1) : null, null, httpReferer, "NSC_", 3);
+			firstChars = ParserUtils.peekFirstChars(is);
 
 			final XmlPullParser pp = parserFactory.newPullParser();
 			pp.setInput(is, null);
@@ -1027,7 +1042,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		}
 		catch (final XmlPullParserException x)
 		{
-			throw new ParserException(x);
+			throw new ParserException("cannot parse xml: " + firstChars, x);
 		}
 		finally
 		{
@@ -1473,10 +1488,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		// System.out.println(parameters);
 
 		InputStream is = null;
+		String firstChars = null;
+
 		try
 		{
 			is = ParserUtils.scrapeInputStream(uri.toString(), httpPost ? parameters.substring(1) : null, null, httpReferer, null, 3);
-			final String firstChars = ParserUtils.peekFirstChars(is);
+			firstChars = ParserUtils.peekFirstChars(is);
 
 			final XmlPullParser pp = parserFactory.newPullParser();
 			pp.setInput(is, null);
@@ -1664,7 +1681,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		}
 		catch (final XmlPullParserException x)
 		{
-			throw new ParserException(x);
+			throw new ParserException("cannot parse xml: " + firstChars, x);
 		}
 		finally
 		{
@@ -1685,9 +1702,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		// System.out.println(parameters);
 
 		InputStream is = null;
+		String firstChars = null;
+
 		try
 		{
 			is = ParserUtils.scrapeInputStream(uri.toString(), httpPost ? parameters.substring(1) : null, null, httpReferer, null, 3);
+			firstChars = ParserUtils.peekFirstChars(is);
 
 			final XmlPullParser pp = parserFactory.newPullParser();
 			pp.setInput(is, null);
@@ -1753,7 +1773,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		}
 		catch (final XmlPullParserException x)
 		{
-			throw new ParserException(x);
+			throw new ParserException("cannot parse xml: " + firstChars, x);
 		}
 		finally
 		{
@@ -2150,14 +2170,18 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		// System.out.println(parameters);
 
 		InputStream is = null;
+		String firstChars = null;
+
 		try
 		{
 			is = ParserUtils.scrapeInputStream(uri.toString(), httpPost ? parameters.substring(1) : null, null, httpRefererTrip, "NSC_", 3);
+			firstChars = ParserUtils.peekFirstChars(is);
+
 			return queryTrips(uri.toString(), is);
 		}
 		catch (final XmlPullParserException x)
 		{
-			throw new ParserException(x);
+			throw new ParserException("cannot parse xml: " + firstChars, x);
 		}
 		catch (final RuntimeException x)
 		{
@@ -2185,14 +2209,18 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		// System.out.println(parameters);
 
 		InputStream is = null;
+		String firstChars = null;
+
 		try
 		{
 			is = ParserUtils.scrapeInputStream(uri.toString(), httpPost ? parameters.substring(1) : null, null, httpRefererTrip, "NSC_", 3);
+			firstChars = ParserUtils.peekFirstChars(is);
+
 			return queryTripsMobile(uri.toString(), from, via, to, is);
 		}
 		catch (final XmlPullParserException x)
 		{
-			throw new ParserException(x);
+			throw new ParserException("cannot parse xml: " + firstChars, x);
 		}
 		catch (final RuntimeException x)
 		{
@@ -2215,16 +2243,19 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		uri.append("&command=").append(later ? "tripNext" : "tripPrev");
 
 		InputStream is = null;
+		String firstChars = null;
+
 		try
 		{
 			is = ParserUtils.scrapeInputStream(uri.toString(), null, null, httpRefererTrip, "NSC_", 3);
+			firstChars = ParserUtils.peekFirstChars(is);
 			is.mark(512);
 
 			return queryTrips(uri.toString(), is);
 		}
 		catch (final XmlPullParserException x)
 		{
-			throw new ParserException(x);
+			throw new ParserException("cannot parse xml: " + firstChars, x);
 		}
 		catch (final FileNotFoundException x)
 		{
@@ -2261,16 +2292,19 @@ public abstract class AbstractEfaProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		uri.append("&command=").append(later ? "tripNext" : "tripPrev");
 
 		InputStream is = null;
+		String firstChars = null;
+
 		try
 		{
 			is = ParserUtils.scrapeInputStream(uri.toString(), null, null, httpRefererTrip, "NSC_", 3);
+			firstChars = ParserUtils.peekFirstChars(is);
 			is.mark(512);
 
 			return queryTripsMobile(uri.toString(), null, null, null, is);
 		}
 		catch (final XmlPullParserException x)
 		{
-			throw new ParserException(x);
+			throw new ParserException("cannot parse xml: " + firstChars, x);
 		}
 		catch (final ProtocolException x) // must be html content
 		{
diff --git a/enabler/src/de/schildbach/pte/AbstractHafasProvider.java b/enabler/src/de/schildbach/pte/AbstractHafasProvider.java
index 6fd881f0..54366daa 100644
--- a/enabler/src/de/schildbach/pte/AbstractHafasProvider.java
+++ b/enabler/src/de/schildbach/pte/AbstractHafasProvider.java
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ import de.schildbach.pte.dto.ResultHeader;
 import de.schildbach.pte.dto.StationDepartures;
 import de.schildbach.pte.dto.Stop;
 import de.schildbach.pte.dto.Trip;
+import de.schildbach.pte.exception.ParserException;
 import de.schildbach.pte.exception.SessionExpiredException;
 import de.schildbach.pte.util.LittleEndianDataInputStream;
 import de.schildbach.pte.util.ParserUtils;
@@ -1007,11 +1008,14 @@ public abstract class AbstractHafasProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		// ParserUtils.printXml(ParserUtils.scrape(queryEndpoint, request, null, null));
 
 		Reader reader = null;
+		String firstChars = null;
 
 		try
 		{
 			final String endpoint = extXmlEndpoint != null ? extXmlEndpoint : queryEndpoint;
-			reader = new InputStreamReader(ParserUtils.scrapeInputStream(endpoint, request, null, null, null, 3), ISO_8859_1);
+			final InputStream is = ParserUtils.scrapeInputStream(endpoint, request, null, null, null, 3);
+			firstChars = ParserUtils.peekFirstChars(is);
+			reader = new InputStreamReader(is, ISO_8859_1);
 
 			final XmlPullParserFactory factory = XmlPullParserFactory.newInstance(System.getProperty(XmlPullParserFactory.PROPERTY_NAME), null);
 			final XmlPullParser pp = factory.newPullParser();
@@ -1372,7 +1376,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractHafasProvider extends AbstractNetworkProvider
 		}
 		catch (final XmlPullParserException x)
 		{
-			throw new RuntimeException(x);
+			throw new ParserException("cannot parse xml: " + firstChars, x);
 		}
 		finally
 		{