Financial Statement Information Intangible Assets (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Intangible Assets
Decrease in Market Capitalization	40.00%
Decrease In Forecasted Revenue	50.00%
Goodwill	$ 4,334,725	$ 4,406,535
Goodwill [Member]
Intangible Assets
Amount that fair value exceeds carrying value	12.00%	25.00%
Warn Industries [Member]
Intangible Assets
Amount that fair value exceeds carrying value	9.00%
Trademarks [Member]
Intangible Assets
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets (Excluding Goodwill)	$ 81,000

Amount that fair value exceeds carrying value

No definition available.

Name:	lkq_Amountthatfairvalueexceedscarryingvalue
Namespace Prefix:	lkq_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Decrease In Forecasted Revenue

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	lkq_DecreaseInForecastedRevenue
Namespace Prefix:	lkq_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Decrease in Market Capitalization

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	lkq_DecreaseinMarketCapitalization
Namespace Prefix:	lkq_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

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.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

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.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77989000&loc=SL49117168-202975

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=99380562&loc=d3e13770-109266

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_Goodwill
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance and having a projected indefinite period of benefit.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66006027&loc=d3e16323-109275

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsExcludingGoodwill
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_GoodwillMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=lkq_WarnIndustriesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_TrademarksMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: