diff --git a/lib/adapters/neo4j.js b/lib/adapters/neo4j.js
index f8202964..cf5c3f99 100644
--- a/lib/adapters/neo4j.js
+++ b/lib/adapters/neo4j.js
@@ -200,9 +200,10 @@ Neo4j.prototype.updateIndexes = function updateIndexes(model, node, cb) {
 
 Neo4j.prototype.save = function save(model, data, callback) {
     var self = this;
-    //delete id property since that's redundant and we use the node.id
-    delete data.id;
+    
     this.node(data.id, function (err, node) {
+        //delete id property since that's redundant and we use the node.id
+        delete data.id;
         if (err) return callback(err);
         node.data = cleanup(data);
         node.save(function (err) {