diff --git a/tests/common/libvm.sh b/tests/common/libvm.sh
index 0749bddd..6f36ec3a 100644
--- a/tests/common/libvm.sh
+++ b/tests/common/libvm.sh
@@ -418,10 +418,17 @@ vm_wait_content_after_cursor() {
 EOF
 }
 
+# Minor helper that makes sure to get quoting right
+vm_get_journal_after_cursor() {
+  from_cursor=$1; shift
+  to_file=$1; shift
+  # add an extra helping of quotes for hungry ssh
+  vm_cmd journalctl --after-cursor "'$from_cursor'" > $to_file
+}
+
 vm_assert_journal_has_content() {
   from_cursor=$1; shift
-  # add an extra helping of quotes for hungry ssh
-  vm_cmd journalctl --after-cursor "'$from_cursor'" > tmp-journal.txt
+  vm_get_journal_after_cursor $from_cursor tmp-journal.txt
   assert_file_has_content tmp-journal.txt "$@"
   rm -f tmp-journal.txt
 }
diff --git a/tests/vmcheck/test-autoupdate-check.sh b/tests/vmcheck/test-autoupdate-check.sh
index 3c2ea65c..7575c8bd 100755
--- a/tests/vmcheck/test-autoupdate-check.sh
+++ b/tests/vmcheck/test-autoupdate-check.sh
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ vm_wait_content_after_cursor $cursor 'Txn AutomaticUpdateTrigger.*successful'
 vm_rpmostree status -v > out.txt
 assert_not_file_has_content out.txt "AvailableUpdate"
 # And check the unit name https://github.com/projectatomic/rpm-ostree/pull/1368
-vm_cmd journalctl -u rpm-ostreed --after-cursor ${cursor} > journal.txt
+vm_get_journal_after_cursor $cursor journal.txt
 assert_file_has_content journal.txt 'client(id:cli.*unit:rpm-ostreed-automatic.service'
 rm -f journal.txt