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Fair value of the notes payable incurred by the acquirer to former owners of the acquirees as a result of the business combinations during the period.

No definition available.

Name:	lkq_BusinessAcquisitionCostOfAcquiredEntityNotesPayableIssued
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Fair Value of other purchase price obligations (non-interest bearing) incurred by the acquirer to former owners of the acquiree as a result of the business combinations during the period.

No definition available.

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Business Acquisition Cost of Acquired Entity Settlement of Pre-existing Balances

No definition available.

Name:	lkq_BusinessAcquisitionCostofAcquiredEntitySettlementofPreexistingBalances
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Amount charged against earnings in the period for incurred and estimated costs associated with exit from or disposal of business activities or restructurings pursuant to a duly authorized plan, excluding asset retirement obligations. Additionally, this element represents acquisition-related costs incurred to effect a business combination which costs have been expensed during the period. Such costs include finder's fees; advisory, legal, accounting, valuation, and other professional or consulting fees; general administrative costs, including the costs of maintaining an internal acquisitions department; and may include costs of registering and issuing debt and equity securities.

No definition available.

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

No definition available.

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The amount of goodwill arising from a business combination that is expected to be deductible for tax purposes.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (d)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35744584&loc=d3e6927-128479

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Amount of consideration transferred, consisting of acquisition-date fair value of assets transferred by the acquirer, liabilities incurred by the acquirer, and equity interest issued by the acquirer.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
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For contingent consideration arrangements recognized in connection with a business combination, this element represents an estimate of the high-end of the potential range (undiscounted) of the consideration which may be paid.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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This element represents the amount of earnings or loss of the acquiree since the acquisition date included in the consolidated income statement for the reporting period.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
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-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=56956515&loc=d3e1392-128463

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This element represents the amount of revenue of the acquiree since the acquisition date included in the consolidated income statement for the reporting period.

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Amount after accumulated impairment loss of an asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
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The number of businesses acquired by the entity during the period.

No definition available.

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The cash outflow associated with the acquisition of a business, net of the cash acquired from the purchase.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 13
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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
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Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=lkq_All2015AcquisitionsMember
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Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=lkq_KeystoneSpecialtyMember
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Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=lkq_SelfServiceSegmentMember
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Data Type:	na
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Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=lkq_NetherlandsDistributorsMember
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Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=lkq_UKPaintMember
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