diff --git a/lib/workers/global/config/parse/file.ts b/lib/workers/global/config/parse/file.ts
index 9b06e91a68a3fcc45967cff09926b05c72d67508..14c13c06a81e15b6a17a71664d069254ca20c1e7 100644
--- a/lib/workers/global/config/parse/file.ts
+++ b/lib/workers/global/config/parse/file.ts
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ export async function getConfig(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv): Promise<AllConfig> {
       logger.fatal(err.message);
       process.exit(1);
     } else if (env.RENOVATE_CONFIG_FILE) {
-      logger.fatal('No custom config file found on disk');
+      logger.fatal('Error parsing config file');
       process.exit(1);
     }
     // istanbul ignore next: we can ignore this