Cat Financial Financing Activities (Details 5) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2017 USD ($) Contracts	Mar. 31, 2016 USD ($) Contracts	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)
Customer
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts (in contracts) \| Contracts	30	21
Pre-TDR Outstanding Recorded Investment	$ 124	$ 52
Post-TDR Outstanding Recorded Investment	$ 113	$ 40
Customer \| North America
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts (in contracts) \| Contracts	9	11
Pre-TDR Outstanding Recorded Investment	$ 1	$ 10
Post-TDR Outstanding Recorded Investment	$ 1	$ 10
Customer \| Europe
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts (in contracts) \| Contracts	1	0
Pre-TDR Outstanding Recorded Investment	$ 0	$ 0
Post-TDR Outstanding Recorded Investment	$ 0	$ 0
Customer \| Asia Pacific
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts (in contracts) \| Contracts	5	4
Pre-TDR Outstanding Recorded Investment	$ 39	$ 3
Post-TDR Outstanding Recorded Investment	$ 30	$ 3
Customer \| Mining
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts (in contracts) \| Contracts	2	0
Pre-TDR Outstanding Recorded Investment	$ 57	$ 0
Post-TDR Outstanding Recorded Investment	$ 56	$ 0
Customer \| Latin America
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts (in contracts) \| Contracts	7	2
Pre-TDR Outstanding Recorded Investment	$ 2	$ 0
Post-TDR Outstanding Recorded Investment	$ 2	$ 0
Customer \| Caterpillar Power Finance
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts (in contracts) \| Contracts	6	4
Pre-TDR Outstanding Recorded Investment	$ 25	$ 39
Post-TDR Outstanding Recorded Investment	$ 24	$ 27
Dealer
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts (in contracts) \| Contracts	0	0
Finance Receivables \| Customer
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Remaining Commitments	$ 0		$ 11

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- Definition

Number of financing receivables that have been modified by troubled debt restructurings.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 33
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66008989&loc=SL6953676-111524

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- Definition

Post-modification amount of investment in financing receivables modified by troubled debt restructurings.

+ References

+ Details

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- Definition

Pre-modification amount of investment in financing receivables modified by troubled debt restructurings.

+ References

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- Definition

Reflects the unfunded portion of contractual agreements to lend funds to borrowers for loans whose terms have been modified by troubled debt restructuring.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 40
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=25495931&loc=d3e18794-111554

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