Acquisition - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		1 Months Ended
	Apr. 01, 2013	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012	Apr. 01, 2013 GPC Asia Pacific [Member] Store	Jan. 01, 2012 GPC Asia Pacific [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 GPC Asia Pacific [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 GPC Asia Pacific [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 GPC Asia Pacific [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 GPC Asia Pacific [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 GPC Asia Pacific [Member] Cost of Sales [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 GPC Asia Pacific [Member] Cost of Sales [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 GPC Asia Pacific [Member] Cost of Sales [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 GPC Asia Pacific [Member] Selling, Administrative and Other Expenses [Member]	Apr. 01, 2013 Customer Relationships [Member]	Apr. 01, 2013 Trademarks [Member]	Apr. 01, 2013 Non-Compete Agreements [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Percentage of previously acquired investment	30.00%				30.00%
Cash paid for acquisition	$ 590,000,000			$ 590,000,000	$ 166,000,000
Percentage of investment acquired				70.00%
Cash acquired				70,000,000
Debt acquired	230,000,000			230,000,000
Annual revenue									1,000,000,000
Company-owned stores				430
One-time positive purchase accounting pre-tax adjustments total								33,000,000
One-time positive purchase accounting pre-tax adjustments total per unit								$ 0.21
Business combination, step acquisition, equity interest in acquiree, remeasurement gain				59,000,000
Business combination one time purchase accounting adjustments, post-closing sale of acquired inventory written up to fair value										3,000,000	18,000,000	21,000,000
Business combination one time negative purchase accounting adjustments						5,000,000
Fair value of previously acquired investment	234,000,000			234,000,000
Acquired inventory adjustment to fair value				21,000,000
One-time gain and other adjustments													54,000,000
Total fair value consideration transferred	824,000,000
Other intangible assets acquired	347,000,000													202,000,000	141,000,000	4,000,000
Weighted average amortization lives	26 years													16 years	40 years	1 year
Sales included in statement of income and comprehensive income							551,000,000
Earnings per share							$ 0.37
Pro-forma net sales		$ 10,800,000,000	$ 10,700,000,000
Proforma earnings per share diluted		$ 3.45	$ 3.44