Allowance for Credit Losses and Credit Quality of Receivables (Details 2) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2012	Oct. 31, 2011	Oct. 31, 2010
Allowance:
Beginning of year balance	$ 126.3	$ 148.6	$ 158.2
Provision (credit) for credit losses	(0.2)	1.9	79.7
Write-offs	(40.7)	(61.5)	(120.2)
Recoveries	29.1	36.8	30.9
Other changes (primarily translation adjustments)	(0.5)	0.5
End of year balance	114.0	126.3	148.6
Balance individually evaluated	0.6	1.0
Receivables:
End of year balance	25,204.3	22,078.6	19,860.0
Balance individually evaluated	11.6	18.1
Retail notes
Allowance:
Beginning of year balance	67.8	82.1
Provision (credit) for credit losses	(10.4)	(6.9)
Write-offs	(7.4)	(14.9)
Recoveries	6.8	7.2
Other changes (primarily translation adjustments)	(0.4)	0.3
End of year balance	56.4	67.8
Balance individually evaluated		0.5
Receivables:
End of year balance	15,728.8	13,871.7
Balance individually evaluated	10.6	11.0
Revolving charge accounts
Allowance:
Beginning of year balance	39.7	43.3
Provision (credit) for credit losses	7.9	7.3
Write-offs	(28.8)	(39.1)
Recoveries	21.4	28.2
End of year balance	40.2	39.7
Balance individually evaluated	0.5
Receivables:
End of year balance	2,427.7	2,452.5
Balance individually evaluated	0.5	0.2
Wholesale receivables
Allowance:
Beginning of year balance	6.0	7.4
Provision (credit) for credit losses	0.9	(1.1)
Write-offs	(1.0)	(0.6)
Recoveries	0.1	0.1
Other changes (primarily translation adjustments)	(0.1)	0.2
End of year balance	5.9	6.0
Balance individually evaluated	0.1	0.2
Receivables:
End of year balance	6,483.1	5,211.7
Balance individually evaluated	0.2	4.8
Other
Allowance:
Beginning of year balance	12.8	15.8
Provision (credit) for credit losses	1.4	2.6
Write-offs	(3.5)	(6.9)
Recoveries	0.8	1.3
End of year balance	11.5	12.8
Balance individually evaluated		0.3
Receivables:
End of year balance	564.7	542.7
Balance individually evaluated	$ 0.3	$ 2.1