Guarantees and Product Warranty (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Mar. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]
Related liability	$ 10	$ 8
Guarantor Obligations
Guarantees, maximum potential amount of future payments	1,997	1,978
Special-Purpose Corporation assets in Consolidated Statement of Financial Position	1,167	1,149
Special-Purpose Corporation liabilities in Consolidated Statement of Financial Position	1,166	1,148
Caterpillar dealer performance guarantees
Guarantor Obligations
Guarantees, maximum potential amount of future payments	1,235	1,244
Customer loan guarantees
Guarantor Obligations
Guarantees, maximum potential amount of future payments	36	31
Supplier consortium performance guarantees
Guarantor Obligations
Guarantees, maximum potential amount of future payments	541	527
Third party logistics business lease guarantees
Guarantor Obligations
Guarantees, maximum potential amount of future payments	58	60
Other guarantees
Guarantor Obligations
Guarantees, maximum potential amount of future payments	$ 127	$ 116

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The current carrying amount of the liability for the freestanding or embedded guarantor's obligations under the guarantee or each group of similar guarantees.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (c)
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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.

+ References

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Maximum potential amount of future payments (undiscounted) the guarantor could be required to make under the guarantee or each group of similar guarantees before reduction for potential recoveries under recourse or collateralization provisions.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (b)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=115931803&loc=d3e12069-110248

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The carrying amount of the consolidated Variable Interest Entity's assets included in the reporting entity's statement of financial position.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 810
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (bb)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108788376&loc=d3e5710-111685

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The carrying amount of the consolidated Variable Interest Entity's liabilities included in the reporting entity's statement of financial position.

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