diff --git a/hgext/rebase.py b/hgext/rebase.py
--- a/hgext/rebase.py
+++ b/hgext/rebase.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 http://www.selenic.com/mercurial/wiki/index.cgi/RebaseProject
 '''
 
-from mercurial import util, repair, merge, cmdutil, commands, error
+from mercurial import util, repair, merge, cmdutil, commands, error, shlex
 from mercurial import extensions, ancestor
 from mercurial.commands import templateopts
 from mercurial.node import nullrev
@@ -259,6 +259,12 @@
                                         (repo[p.rev].rev(), p.name))
             mqrebase[repo[p.rev].rev()] = p.name
 
+    # If qimport or qrefresh use --git style by default
+    importdefaults = repo.ui.config('defaults', 'qimport')
+    refreshdefaults = repo.ui.config('defaults', 'qrefresh')
+    gitstyle = opts.get('git', False) or \
+        '--git' in shlex.split(refreshdefaults) or \
+        '--git' in shlex.split(importdefaults)
     if mqrebase:
         repo.mq.finish(repo, mqrebase.keys())
 
@@ -271,7 +277,7 @@
                 repo.ui.debug(_('import mq patch %d (%s)\n')
                               % (state[rev], mqrebase[rev]))
                 repo.mq.qimport(repo, (), patchname=mqrebase[rev],
-                            git=opts.get('git', False),rev=[str(state[rev])])
+                            git=gitstyle, rev=[str(state[rev])])
         repo.mq.save_dirty()
 
 def storestatus(repo, originalwd, target, state, collapse, external):