diff --git a/lintcheck/src/main.rs b/lintcheck/src/main.rs
index 9ee25280f046..d7e35a1bbfa8 100644
--- a/lintcheck/src/main.rs
+++ b/lintcheck/src/main.rs
@@ -337,9 +337,9 @@ impl Crate {
         let shared_target_dir = clippy_project_root().join("target/lintcheck/shared_target_dir");
 
         let mut args = if config.fix {
-            vec!["--fix", "--"]
+            vec!["--fix", "--allow-no-vcs", "--"]
         } else {
-            vec!["--", "--message-format=json", "--"]
+            vec!["--message-format=json", "--"]
         };
 
         if let Some(options) = &self.options {
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 4a32e0e54a81..abff6ebeddca 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #![cfg_attr(feature = "deny-warnings", deny(warnings))]
+#![feature(let_chains)]
 // warn on lints, that are included in `rust-lang/rust`s bootstrap
 #![warn(rust_2018_idioms, unused_lifetimes)]
 
@@ -67,7 +68,16 @@ pub fn main() {
         return;
     }
 
-    if let Err(code) = process(env::args().skip(2)) {
+    // if we run "cargo clippy" (as cargo subcommand), we have to strip "cargo clippy" (first 2 args)
+    // but if we are run via "..../target/debug/cargo-clippy", only ommit the first arg, the second one
+    // might be a normal cmdline arg already (which we don't want to ommit)
+    let args = if let Some(first_arg) = env::args().next() && first_arg.ends_with("cargo-clippy") {
+        env::args().skip(1)
+    } else {
+        env::args().skip(2)
+    };
+
+    if let Err(code) = process(args) {
         process::exit(code);
     }
 }
@@ -204,4 +214,14 @@ mod tests {
         let cmd = ClippyCmd::new(args);
         assert_eq!("check", cmd.cargo_subcommand);
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn dont_skip_arg() {
+        let args = "target/debug/cargo-clippy --fix"
+            .split_whitespace()
+            .map(ToString::to_string);
+        let cmd = ClippyCmd::new(args);
+        assert_eq!("fix", cmd.cargo_subcommand);
+        assert!(!cmd.args.iter().any(|arg| arg.ends_with("unstable-options")));
+    }
 }