Business Combinations (Schedule of Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed) (Details) € in Thousands, $ in Thousands						9 Months Ended
		Aug. 01, 2016 USD ($)	Feb. 19, 2016 EUR (€)	Feb. 19, 2016 USD ($)	Nov. 04, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill acquired on acquisition						$ 92,307	$ 91,234
Mascus International Holdings BV [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Purchase price			€ 26,553	$ 29,580
Fair value of contingent consideration				3,431
Non-controlling interests	[1]			596
Total fair value at acquisition date				33,607
Cash and cash equivalents				1,457
Trade and other receivables				1,290
Prepaid expenses				528
Property, plant and equipment				104
Intangible assets	[2]			14,817
Trade and other payables				1,533
Other non-current liabilities				37
Deferred tax liabilities				2,683
Fair value of identifiable net assets acquired				13,943
Goodwill acquired on acquisition				$ 19,664
Mascus International Holdings BV [Member] | Customer Relationships [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Amortization life						17 years
Xcira LLC [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Purchase price					$ 12,359
Non-controlling interests					4,119
Total fair value at acquisition date					16,478
Cash and cash equivalents					252
Trade and other receivables					1,382
Prepaid expenses					62
Property, plant and equipment					314
Other non-current assets					11
Intangible assets	[3]				4,300
Trade and other payables					502
Fair value of identifiable net assets acquired					5,819
Goodwill acquired on acquisition					$ 10,659
Xcira LLC [Member] | Technology [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Amortization life					5 years
Xcira LLC [Member] | Customer Relationships [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Amortization life					20 years
Petrowsky Auctioneers Inc. [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Purchase price		$ 6,250
Fair value of contingent consideration		1,433
Total fair value at acquisition date		7,683
Property, plant and equipment		441
Intangible assets	[4]	2,934
Fair value of identifiable net assets acquired		3,375
Goodwill acquired on acquisition		$ 4,308
Petrowsky Auctioneers Inc. [Member] | Customer Relationships [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Amortization life		10 years

[1] The Company acquired 100% of Mascus and within the Mascus group of entities there were two subsidiaries that were not wholly-owned, one domiciled in the United States and one domiciled in Denmark. As such, the Company acquired non-controlling interests. The fair value of each non-controlling interest was determined using an income approach based on cash flows of the respective entities that were attributable to the non-controlling interest. On May 27, 2016, Ritchie Bros. Holdings (America) Inc. acquired the remaining issued and outstanding shares of the Mascus subsidiary domiciled in the United States for cash consideration of $226,000.

[2] Intangible assets consist of customer relationships with estimated useful lives of 17 years, indefinite-lived trade names, and software assets with estimated useful lives of five years.

[3] Consists of existing technology and customer relationships with an amortization life of five and 20 years, respectively

[4] Consists of customer relationships with an amortization life of 10 years.