diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/chat_utils.py b/vllm/entrypoints/chat_utils.py
index bd2c3357cdc0..4901d8f98dac 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/chat_utils.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/chat_utils.py
@@ -1198,14 +1198,25 @@ def apply_hf_chat_template(
             "allowed, so you must provide a chat template if the tokenizer "
             "does not define one.")
 
-    return tokenizer.apply_chat_template(
-        conversation=conversation,  # type: ignore[arg-type]
-        tools=tools,  # type: ignore[arg-type]
-        chat_template=hf_chat_template,
-        tokenize=tokenize,
-        **kwargs,
-    )
+    try:
 
+        return tokenizer.apply_chat_template(
+            conversation=conversation,  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+            tools=tools,  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+            chat_template=hf_chat_template,
+            tokenize=tokenize,
+            **kwargs,
+        )
+
+    # External library exceptions can sometimes occur despite the framework's
+    # internal exception management capabilities.
+    except Exception as e:
+
+        # Log and report any library-related exceptions for further
+        # investigation.
+        logger.exception(
+            "An error occurred in `transformers` while applying chat template")
+        raise ValueError from e
 
 def apply_mistral_chat_template(
     tokenizer: MistralTokenizer,
@@ -1214,6 +1225,8 @@ def apply_mistral_chat_template(
     tools: Optional[list[dict[str, Any]]],
     **kwargs: Any,
 ) -> list[int]:
+    from mistral_common.exceptions import MistralCommonException
+
     # The return value of resolve_mistral_chat_template is always None,
     # and we won't use it.
     resolve_mistral_chat_template(
@@ -1231,5 +1244,16 @@ def apply_mistral_chat_template(
     # if input does not comply with the expected format.
     # We convert those assertion errors to ValueErrors so they can be
     # are properly caught in the preprocessing_input step
-    except AssertionError as e:
+    except (AssertionError, MistralCommonException) as e:
+        raise ValueError from e
+
+    # External library exceptions can sometimes occur despite the framework's
+    # internal exception management capabilities.
+    except Exception as e:
+
+        # Log and report any library-related exceptions for further
+        # investigation.
+        logger.exception(
+            "An error occurred in `mistral_common` while applying chat "
+            "template")
         raise ValueError from e