diff --git a/bin/pt-variable-advisor b/bin/pt-variable-advisor
index 000b7e7e..5c3fd5bd 100755
--- a/bin/pt-variable-advisor
+++ b/bin/pt-variable-advisor
@@ -2259,6 +2259,10 @@ sub get_rules {
       id   => 'concurrent_insert',
       code => sub {
          my ( %args ) = @_;
+         if (    $args{variables}->{concurrent_insert}
+              && $args{variables}->{concurrent_insert} =~ m/[^\d]/ ) {
+            return $args{variables}->{concurrent_insert} eq 'ALWAYS' ? 1 : 0;
+         }
          return _var_gt($args{variables}->{concurrent_insert}, 1);
       },
    },
diff --git a/lib/VariableAdvisorRules.pm b/lib/VariableAdvisorRules.pm
index eccbff63..86ac033a 100644
--- a/lib/VariableAdvisorRules.pm
+++ b/lib/VariableAdvisorRules.pm
@@ -56,6 +56,13 @@ sub get_rules {
       id   => 'concurrent_insert',
       code => sub {
          my ( %args ) = @_;
+         # MySQL 5.5 has named values.
+         # http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/server-system-variables.html
+         # https://bugs.launchpad.net/percona-toolkit/+bug/898138
+         if (    $args{variables}->{concurrent_insert}
+              && $args{variables}->{concurrent_insert} =~ m/[^\d]/ ) {
+            return $args{variables}->{concurrent_insert} eq 'ALWAYS' ? 1 : 0;
+         }
          return _var_gt($args{variables}->{concurrent_insert}, 1);
       },
    },
diff --git a/t/lib/VariableAdvisorRules.t b/t/lib/VariableAdvisorRules.t
index 4147ef78..63092478 100644
--- a/t/lib/VariableAdvisorRules.t
+++ b/t/lib/VariableAdvisorRules.t
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ BEGIN {
 use strict;
 use warnings FATAL => 'all';
 use English qw(-no_match_vars);
-use Test::More tests => 80;
+use Test::More tests => 83;
 
 use PodParser;
 use AdvisorRules;
@@ -64,6 +64,18 @@ my @cases = (
       vars   => [qw(concurrent_insert 2)],
       advice => [qw(concurrent_insert)],
    },
+   {  name   => "concurrent insert",
+      vars   => [qw(concurrent_insert NEVER)],
+      advice => [qw()],
+   },
+   {  name   => "concurrent insert",
+      vars   => [qw(concurrent_insert AUTO)],
+      advice => [qw()],
+   },
+   {  name   => "concurrent insert",
+      vars   => [qw(concurrent_insert ALWAYS)],
+      advice => [qw(concurrent_insert)],
+   },
    {  name   => "connect timeout",
       vars   => [qw(connect_timeout 11)],
       advice => [qw(connect_timeout)],