diff --git a/plugins/ssl/ssl-certificate-expiry b/plugins/ssl/ssl-certificate-expiry
index 9a3e8142..c2bb7cf2 100755
--- a/plugins/ssl/ssl-certificate-expiry
+++ b/plugins/ssl/ssl-certificate-expiry
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ main() {
 	else
 	    host=$service
 	    port=443
+	    starttls=""
 	fi
 	fieldname="$(clean_fieldname "$service")"
 	valid_days=$(print_expire_days "$host" "$port" "$starttls")