Cat Financial Financing Activities Cat Financing Activities (Details Credit quality- Customer Receivables Aging by origination year -Vintage disclosure) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Mar. 31, 2021	Dec. 31, 2020
Receivables [Abstract]
Period after which Unpaid Installments are Considered as Past Due	30 days
Dealer | Latin America | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2018 and 2017, respectively		$ 78
2017 and 2016, respectively	$ 78
Prior		3
Total Finance Receivables		81
Finance Receivables
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
Total Finance Receivables	21,736	22,160
Finance Receivables | Customer
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	2,316	8,162
2020 and 2019, respectively	7,403	5,403
2019 and 2018, respectively	4,714	2,901
2018 and 2017, respectively	2,462	1,357
2017 and 2016, respectively	1,062	575
Prior	885	492
Revolving Finance Receivables	261	348
Total Finance Receivables	19,103	19,238
Finance Receivables | Customer | North America | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	1,149	3,777
2020 and 2019, respectively	3,551	2,423
2019 and 2018, respectively	2,192	1,344
2018 and 2017, respectively	1,156	522
2017 and 2016, respectively	425	212
Prior	166	27
Revolving Finance Receivables	61	89
Total Finance Receivables	8,700	8,394
Finance Receivables | Customer | North America | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	5	52
2020 and 2019, respectively	34	49
2019 and 2018, respectively	30	33
2018 and 2017, respectively	18	16
2017 and 2016, respectively	7	7
Prior	8	2
Revolving Finance Receivables	1	0
Total Finance Receivables	103	159
Finance Receivables | Customer | North America | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	22
2020 and 2019, respectively	14	25
2019 and 2018, respectively	9	16
2018 and 2017, respectively	7	9
2017 and 2016, respectively	4	2
Prior	1	1
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	35	75
Finance Receivables | Customer | North America | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	14
2020 and 2019, respectively	18	35
2019 and 2018, respectively	35	31
2018 and 2017, respectively	22	20
2017 and 2016, respectively	16	9
Prior	10	4
Revolving Finance Receivables	1	2
Total Finance Receivables	102	115
Finance Receivables | Customer | EAME | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	459	1,605
2020 and 2019, respectively	1,307	931
2019 and 2018, respectively	811	501
2018 and 2017, respectively	419	203
2017 and 2016, respectively	164	60
Prior	56	18
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	3,216	3,318
Finance Receivables | Customer | EAME | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	1	5
2020 and 2019, respectively	8	15
2019 and 2018, respectively	5	3
2018 and 2017, respectively	3	2
2017 and 2016, respectively	1	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	18	25
Finance Receivables | Customer | EAME | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	1
2020 and 2019, respectively	3	1
2019 and 2018, respectively	3	2
2018 and 2017, respectively	1	1
2017 and 2016, respectively	1	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	8	5
Finance Receivables | Customer | EAME | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	7
2020 and 2019, respectively	9	7
2019 and 2018, respectively	5	12
2018 and 2017, respectively	12	4
2017 and 2016, respectively	5	39
Prior	81	43
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	112	112
Finance Receivables | Customer | Asia/Pacific | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	399	1,375
2020 and 2019, respectively	1,246	745
2019 and 2018, respectively	616	321
2018 and 2017, respectively	222	61
2017 and 2016, respectively	42	10
Prior	10	3
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	2,535	2,515
Finance Receivables | Customer | Asia/Pacific | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	12
2020 and 2019, respectively	15	22
2019 and 2018, respectively	15	13
2018 and 2017, respectively	10	6
2017 and 2016, respectively	1	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	41	53
Finance Receivables | Customer | Asia/Pacific | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	7
2020 and 2019, respectively	7	11
2019 and 2018, respectively	8	7
2018 and 2017, respectively	7	1
2017 and 2016, respectively	4	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	26	26
Finance Receivables | Customer | Asia/Pacific | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	4
2020 and 2019, respectively	8	10
2019 and 2018, respectively	12	9
2018 and 2017, respectively	12	3
2017 and 2016, respectively	2	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	34	26
Finance Receivables | Customer | Mining | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	169	490
2020 and 2019, respectively	462	571
2019 and 2018, respectively	539	287
2018 and 2017, respectively	313	152
2017 and 2016, respectively	109	92
Prior	206	151
Revolving Finance Receivables	86	137
Total Finance Receivables	1,884	1,880
Finance Receivables | Customer | Mining | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	5	5
2020 and 2019, respectively	0	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	5
2018 and 2017, respectively	0	1
2017 and 2016, respectively	0	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	5	11
Finance Receivables | Customer | Mining | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	0
2020 and 2019, respectively	0	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	0
2018 and 2017, respectively	1	0
2017 and 2016, respectively	0	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	1	0
Finance Receivables | Customer | Mining | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	0
2020 and 2019, respectively	1	11
2019 and 2018, respectively	2	8
2018 and 2017, respectively	4	2
2017 and 2016, respectively	2	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	1
Total Finance Receivables	9	22
Finance Receivables | Customer | Latin America | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	124	561
2020 and 2019, respectively	490	348
2019 and 2018, respectively	264	151
2018 and 2017, respectively	106	48
2017 and 2016, respectively	35	13
Prior	23	34
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	1,042	1,155
Finance Receivables | Customer | Latin America | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	3
2020 and 2019, respectively	6	6
2019 and 2018, respectively	6	4
2018 and 2017, respectively	6	3
2017 and 2016, respectively	3	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	21	16
Finance Receivables | Customer | Latin America | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	1
2020 and 2019, respectively	3	7
2019 and 2018, respectively	4	6
2018 and 2017, respectively	6	3
2017 and 2016, respectively	1	2
Prior	13	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	27	19
Finance Receivables | Customer | Latin America | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	2
2020 and 2019, respectively	3	14
2019 and 2018, respectively	9	11
2018 and 2017, respectively	10	24
2017 and 2016, respectively	22	5
Prior	10	4
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	54	60
Finance Receivables | Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	5	217
2020 and 2019, respectively	216	172
2019 and 2018, respectively	149	111
2018 and 2017, respectively	102	273
2017 and 2016, respectively	214	99
Prior	207	117
Revolving Finance Receivables	112	119
Total Finance Receivables	1,005	1,108
Finance Receivables | Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	0
2020 and 2019, respectively	0	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	6
2018 and 2017, respectively	0	0
2017 and 2016, respectively	0	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	0	6
Finance Receivables | Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	0
2020 and 2019, respectively	0	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	0
2018 and 2017, respectively	0	0
2017 and 2016, respectively	1	0
Prior	1	9
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	2	9
Finance Receivables | Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	2
2020 and 2019, respectively	2	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	20
2018 and 2017, respectively	25	3
2017 and 2016, respectively	3	25
Prior	93	79
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	123	129
Finance Receivables | Dealer
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
Total Finance Receivables	$ 2,633	$ 2,922