diff --git a/packages/babel-helper-transform-fixture-test-runner/src/index.js b/packages/babel-helper-transform-fixture-test-runner/src/index.js
index 6b32b4933ed2..a16e19b1a68c 100644
--- a/packages/babel-helper-transform-fixture-test-runner/src/index.js
+++ b/packages/babel-helper-transform-fixture-test-runner/src/index.js
@@ -118,8 +118,11 @@ function wrapPackagesArray(type, names, optionsDir) {
 
       val[0] = path.resolve(optionsDir, val[0]);
     } else {
-      // check node_modules/babel-x-y
-      val[0] = __dirname + "/../../babel-" + type + "-" + val[0];
+      const monorepoPath = __dirname + "/../../babel-" + type + "-" + val[0];
+
+      if (fs.existsSync(monorepoPath)) {
+        val[0] = monorepoPath;
+      }
     }
 
     return val;