diff --git a/source/normalize-arguments.js b/source/normalize-arguments.js
index 4fcf0a2a6..c0662076e 100644
--- a/source/normalize-arguments.js
+++ b/source/normalize-arguments.js
@@ -55,7 +55,8 @@ const preNormalize = options => {
 };
 
 module.exports = (url, options, defaults) => {
-	options = merge({}, defaults.options, options ? preNormalize(options) : {});
+	options = merge({}, defaults.options, options || {});
+	options = preNormalize(options);
 
 	if (Reflect.has(options, 'url') || (is.object(url) && Reflect.has(url, 'url'))) {
 		throw new TypeError('Parameter `url` is not an option. Use got(url, options)');
diff --git a/test/create.js b/test/create.js
index d28d885a9..4010ffd98 100644
--- a/test/create.js
+++ b/test/create.js
@@ -190,3 +190,20 @@ test('ability to pass a custom request method', async t => {
 
 	t.true(called);
 });
+
+test('hooks aren\'t overriden when merging options', async t => {
+	let called = false;
+	const instance = got.extend({
+		hooks: {
+			beforeRequest: [
+				() => {
+					called = true;
+				}
+			]
+		}
+	});
+
+	await instance(s.url, {});
+
+	t.true(called);
+});