diff --git a/container.go b/container.go
index 0f0ca1686b..6f28134bc9 100644
--- a/container.go
+++ b/container.go
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ type ContainerRequest struct {
 	NetworkAliases map[string][]string // for specifying network aliases
 	SkipReaper     bool                // indicates whether we skip setting up a reaper for this
 	ReaperImage    string              // alternative reaper image
+	AutoRemove     bool                // if set to true, the container will be removed from the host when stopped
 }
 
 // ProviderType is an enum for the possible providers
diff --git a/container_test.go b/container_test.go
index 52c33390fe..316cc4369f 100644
--- a/container_test.go
+++ b/container_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -128,7 +130,7 @@ func Test_BuildImageWithContexts(t *testing.T) {
 					Contents string
 				}{
 					{
-						Name:     "Dockerfile",
+						Name: "Dockerfile",
 						Contents: `FROM alpine
 						CMD ["echo", "this is from the archive"]`,
 					},
@@ -172,11 +174,11 @@ func Test_BuildImageWithContexts(t *testing.T) {
 					Contents string
 				}{
 					{
-						Name: "say_hi.sh",
+						Name:     "say_hi.sh",
 						Contents: `echo hi this is from the say_hi.sh file!`,
 					},
 					{
-						Name:     "Dockerfile",
+						Name: "Dockerfile",
 						Contents: `FROM alpine
 						WORKDIR /app
 						COPY . .
@@ -265,3 +267,39 @@ func Test_BuildImageWithContexts(t *testing.T) {
 
 	}
 }
+
+func Test_GetLogsFromFailedContainer(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	req := ContainerRequest{
+		Image:      "alpine",
+		Cmd:        []string{"echo", "-n", "I was not expecting this"},
+		WaitingFor: wait.ForLog("I was expecting this").WithStartupTimeout(5 * time.Second),
+	}
+
+	c, err := GenericContainer(ctx, GenericContainerRequest{
+		ContainerRequest: req,
+		Started:          true,
+	})
+
+	if err != nil && err.Error() != "failed to start container: context deadline exceeded" {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	} else if err == nil {
+		c.Terminate(ctx)
+		t.Fatal("was expecting error starting container")
+	}
+
+	logs, logErr := c.Logs(ctx)
+	if logErr != nil {
+		t.Fatal(logErr)
+	}
+
+	b, err := ioutil.ReadAll(logs)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	log := string(b)
+	if strings.Contains(log, "I was not expecting this") == false {
+		t.Fatalf("could not find expected log in %s", log)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/docker.go b/docker.go
index 12d1949885..918467b9b2 100644
--- a/docker.go
+++ b/docker.go
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@ func (p *DockerProvider) CreateContainer(ctx context.Context, req ContainerReque
 	hostConfig := &container.HostConfig{
 		PortBindings: exposedPortMap,
 		Mounts:       mounts,
-		AutoRemove:   true,
+		AutoRemove:   req.AutoRemove,
 		Privileged:   req.Privileged,
 	}
 
diff --git a/reaper.go b/reaper.go
index ca465111b0..6caa3ba948 100644
--- a/reaper.go
+++ b/reaper.go
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ func NewReaper(ctx context.Context, sessionID string, provider ReaperProvider, r
 		BindMounts: map[string]string{
 			"/var/run/docker.sock": "/var/run/docker.sock",
 		},
+		AutoRemove: true,
 	}
 
 	c, err := provider.RunContainer(ctx, req)