diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 375c280d..3e36b243 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ This changelog adheres to [Keep a CHANGELOG](https://keepachangelog.com).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 - Bump minimum ruby requirement to 2.7
+- Fix preserve param default behaving like `always` but should be `on-failure`
 
 ## [0.52.0] - 2024-06-03
 ### Added
diff --git a/lib/vanagon/cli/build.rb b/lib/vanagon/cli/build.rb
index 69c3f1ee..ef66b962 100644
--- a/lib/vanagon/cli/build.rb
+++ b/lib/vanagon/cli/build.rb
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ class Build < Vanagon::CLI
           -o, --only-build COMPONENT,COMPONENT,...
                                            Only build listed COMPONENTs
           -p, --preserve [RULE]            Rule for VM preservation: never, on-failure, always
-                                             [Default: always]
+                                             [Default: on-failure]
           -r, --remote-workdir DIRECTORY   Working directory on the remote host
           -s, --skipcheck                  Skip the "check" stage when building components
           -w, --workdir DIRECTORY          Working directory on the local host
diff --git a/lib/vanagon/driver.rb b/lib/vanagon/driver.rb
index d598ba2b..95a661a6 100644
--- a/lib/vanagon/driver.rb
+++ b/lib/vanagon/driver.rb
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ def retry_count
     def initialize(platform, project, options = {}) # rubocop:disable Metrics/AbcSize, Metrics/PerceivedComplexity
       @options = options
       @verbose = options[:verbose] || false
-      @preserve = options[:preserve] || false
+      @preserve = options[:preserve] || :'on-failure'
       @workdir = options[:workdir] || Dir.mktmpdir
 
       @@configdir = options[:configdir] || File.join(Dir.pwd, "configs")
diff --git a/spec/lib/vanagon/cli_spec.rb b/spec/lib/vanagon/cli_spec.rb
index 59aff35e..9845851d 100644
--- a/spec/lib/vanagon/cli_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/vanagon/cli_spec.rb
@@ -1,18 +1,5 @@
 require 'vanagon/cli'
 
-##
-## Ignore the CLI calling 'exit'
-##
-RSpec.configure do |rspec|
-  rspec.around(:example) do |ex|
-    begin
-      ex.run
-    rescue SystemExit => e
-      puts "Got SystemExit: #{e.inspect}. Ignoring"
-    end
-  end
-end
-
 describe Vanagon::CLI do
   describe "options that don't take a value" do
     [:skipcheck, :verbose].each do |flag|
@@ -53,7 +40,7 @@
     end
     it "preserve defaults to :on-failure" do
       subject = described_class.new
-      expect(subject.parse([])).to include(:preserve => :'on-failure')
+      expect(subject.parse(%W[build hello project platform])).to include(:preserve => :'on-failure')
     end
   end