diff --git a/lib/datasource/npm.js b/lib/datasource/npm.js
index c9a35e070a6ae22a6f4a7b6c603d75657b72209a..501772c7f068df144651e6cc2e267fdac142394c 100644
--- a/lib/datasource/npm.js
+++ b/lib/datasource/npm.js
@@ -304,6 +304,18 @@ async function getDependency(name, retries = 5) {
     }
     return dep;
   } catch (err) {
+    // istanbul ignore if
+    if (
+      err.code === 'ETIMEDOUT' &&
+      err.url &&
+      !err.url.startsWith('https://registry.npmjs.org')
+    ) {
+      logger.info(
+        { depName: name, url: err.url },
+        'Cannot connect to private npm host - skipping lookup'
+      );
+      return null;
+    }
     if (err.statusCode === 401 || err.statusCode === 403) {
       logger.info(
         {