diff --git a/litellm/router.py b/litellm/router.py
index 2f70e54ae..371d8e8eb 100644
--- a/litellm/router.py
+++ b/litellm/router.py
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class Router:
         ] = None,  # if you want to cache across model groups
         client_ttl: int = 3600,  # ttl for cached clients - will re-initialize after this time in seconds
         ## RELIABILITY ##
-        num_retries: Optional[int] = None,
+        num_retries: int = 0,
         timeout: Optional[float] = None,
         default_litellm_params={},  # default params for Router.chat.completion.create
         default_max_parallel_requests: Optional[int] = None,
@@ -229,10 +229,7 @@ class Router:
         self.failed_calls = (
             InMemoryCache()
         )  # cache to track failed call per deployment, if num failed calls within 1 minute > allowed fails, then add it to cooldown
-        self.num_retries = num_retries  # type: ignore
-        if self.num_retries is None:
-            if litellm.num_retries is not None:
-                self.num_retries = litellm.num_retries
+        self.num_retries = num_retries or litellm.num_retries or 0
         self.timeout = timeout or litellm.request_timeout
 
         self.retry_after = retry_after
@@ -1989,7 +1986,7 @@ class Router:
                 stream_timeout = litellm.get_secret(stream_timeout_env_name)
                 litellm_params["stream_timeout"] = stream_timeout
 
-            max_retries = litellm_params.pop("max_retries", self.num_retries)
+            max_retries = litellm_params.pop("max_retries", 2)
             if isinstance(max_retries, str) and max_retries.startswith("os.environ/"):
                 max_retries_env_name = max_retries.replace("os.environ/", "")
                 max_retries = litellm.get_secret(max_retries_env_name)
@@ -2886,10 +2883,6 @@ class Router:
                 model=model, healthy_deployments=healthy_deployments, messages=messages
             )
 
-        if len(healthy_deployments) == 0:
-            raise ValueError(
-                f"No deployments available for selected model, passed model={model}"
-            )
         if (
             self.routing_strategy == "usage-based-routing-v2"
             and self.lowesttpm_logger_v2 is not None
diff --git a/litellm/tests/test_router.py b/litellm/tests/test_router.py
index ac47bbc21..7beb1d67c 100644
--- a/litellm/tests/test_router.py
+++ b/litellm/tests/test_router.py
@@ -18,12 +18,6 @@ from dotenv import load_dotenv
 load_dotenv()
 
 
-def test_router_num_retries_init():
-    router = Router(num_retries=0)
-
-    assert router.num_retries == 0
-
-
 def test_exception_raising():
     # this tests if the router raises an exception when invalid params are set
     # in this test both deployments have bad keys - Keep this test. It validates if the router raises the most recent exception