diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 51fe7fa0..f3a30f45 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ Bug fixes:
 
 * [BUG #1259](https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/issues/1259):
   Fix bug where the last byte of a `-f file` was stripped if it wasn't a `\n`.
+* [BUG #1302](https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/issues/1302):
+  Show better error messages when a non-existent preprocessor command is given.
 
 
 11.0.1 (2019-04-16)
diff --git a/src/search.rs b/src/search.rs
index 149f67c3..c866b4bf 100644
--- a/src/search.rs
+++ b/src/search.rs
@@ -396,7 +396,19 @@ impl<W: WriteColor> SearchWorker<W> {
         let mut cmd = Command::new(&bin);
         cmd.arg(path).stdin(Stdio::from(File::open(path)?));
 
-        let rdr = self.command_builder.build(&mut cmd)?;
+        let rdr = self
+            .command_builder
+            .build(&mut cmd)
+            .map_err(|err| {
+                io::Error::new(
+                    io::ErrorKind::Other,
+                    format!(
+                        "preprocessor command could not start: '{:?}': {}",
+                        cmd,
+                        err,
+                    ),
+                )
+            })?;
         self.search_reader(path, rdr).map_err(|err| {
             io::Error::new(
                 io::ErrorKind::Other,