Cat Financial Financing Activities Cat Financing Activities (Details Credit quality- Customer Receivables Aging by origination year -Vintage disclosure) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Jun. 30, 2021	Dec. 31, 2020	Jun. 30, 2020
Receivables [Abstract]
Period after which Unpaid Installments are Considered as Past Due	30 days
Dealer | Latin America | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2018 and 2017, respectively		$ 78
2017 and 2016, respectively	$ 78
Prior		3
Total Finance Receivables		81
Finance Receivables
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
Total Finance Receivables	22,511		$ 21,853
Finance Receivables | Customer
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	5,085	8,162
2020 and 2019, respectively	6,846	5,403
2019 and 2018, respectively	4,079	2,901
2018 and 2017, respectively	1,992	1,357
2017 and 2016, respectively	850	575
Prior	697	492
Revolving Finance Receivables	299	348
Total Finance Receivables	19,848	19,238	18,470
Finance Receivables | Customer | North America | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	2,469	3,777
2020 and 2019, respectively	3,224	2,423
2019 and 2018, respectively	1,931	1,344
2018 and 2017, respectively	957	522
2017 and 2016, respectively	325	212
Prior	111	27
Revolving Finance Receivables	117	89
Total Finance Receivables	9,134	8,394
Finance Receivables | Customer | North America | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	12	52
2020 and 2019, respectively	37	49
2019 and 2018, respectively	25	33
2018 and 2017, respectively	19	16
2017 and 2016, respectively	8	7
Prior	3	2
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	104	159
Finance Receivables | Customer | North America | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	4	22
2020 and 2019, respectively	7	25
2019 and 2018, respectively	5	16
2018 and 2017, respectively	5	9
2017 and 2016, respectively	2	2
Prior	2	1
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	25	75
Finance Receivables | Customer | North America | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	2	14
2020 and 2019, respectively	17	35
2019 and 2018, respectively	27	31
2018 and 2017, respectively	15	20
2017 and 2016, respectively	10	9
Prior	6	4
Revolving Finance Receivables	2	2
Total Finance Receivables	79	115
Finance Receivables | Customer | EAME | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	952	1,605
2020 and 2019, respectively	1,275	931
2019 and 2018, respectively	669	501
2018 and 2017, respectively	329	203
2017 and 2016, respectively	126	60
Prior	38	18
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	3,389	3,318
Finance Receivables | Customer | EAME | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	6	5
2020 and 2019, respectively	10	15
2019 and 2018, respectively	15	3
2018 and 2017, respectively	2	2
2017 and 2016, respectively	1	0
Prior	1	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	35	25
Finance Receivables | Customer | EAME | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	1
2020 and 2019, respectively	7	1
2019 and 2018, respectively	4	2
2018 and 2017, respectively	2	1
2017 and 2016, respectively	0	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	13	5
Finance Receivables | Customer | EAME | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	3	7
2020 and 2019, respectively	11	7
2019 and 2018, respectively	7	12
2018 and 2017, respectively	6	4
2017 and 2016, respectively	3	39
Prior	61	43
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	91	112
Finance Receivables | Customer | Asia/Pacific | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	857	1,375
2020 and 2019, respectively	1,088	745
2019 and 2018, respectively	498	321
2018 and 2017, respectively	151	61
2017 and 2016, respectively	33	10
Prior	6	3
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	2,633	2,515
Finance Receivables | Customer | Asia/Pacific | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	4	12
2020 and 2019, respectively	22	22
2019 and 2018, respectively	17	13
2018 and 2017, respectively	8	6
2017 and 2016, respectively	1	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	52	53
Finance Receivables | Customer | Asia/Pacific | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	7
2020 and 2019, respectively	8	11
2019 and 2018, respectively	9	7
2018 and 2017, respectively	4	1
2017 and 2016, respectively	0	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	21	26
Finance Receivables | Customer | Asia/Pacific | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	4
2020 and 2019, respectively	12	10
2019 and 2018, respectively	8	9
2018 and 2017, respectively	8	3
2017 and 2016, respectively	1	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	29	26
Finance Receivables | Customer | Mining | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	433	490
2020 and 2019, respectively	420	571
2019 and 2018, respectively	478	287
2018 and 2017, respectively	272	152
2017 and 2016, respectively	89	92
Prior	191	151
Revolving Finance Receivables	71	137
Total Finance Receivables	1,954	1,880
Finance Receivables | Customer | Mining | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	5
2020 and 2019, respectively	3	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	5
2018 and 2017, respectively	0	1
2017 and 2016, respectively	0	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	3	11
Finance Receivables | Customer | Mining | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	0
2020 and 2019, respectively	0	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	0
2018 and 2017, respectively	0	0
2017 and 2016, respectively	0	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	0	0
Finance Receivables | Customer | Mining | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	0
2020 and 2019, respectively	1	11
2019 and 2018, respectively	2	8
2018 and 2017, respectively	4	2
2017 and 2016, respectively	2	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	1
Total Finance Receivables	9	22
Finance Receivables | Customer | Latin America | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	315	561
2020 and 2019, respectively	452	348
2019 and 2018, respectively	233	151
2018 and 2017, respectively	93	48
2017 and 2016, respectively	30	13
Prior	19	34
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	1,142	1,155
Finance Receivables | Customer | Latin America | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	1	3
2020 and 2019, respectively	14	6
2019 and 2018, respectively	6	4
2018 and 2017, respectively	3	3
2017 and 2016, respectively	1	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	25	16
Finance Receivables | Customer | Latin America | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	1
2020 and 2019, respectively	3	7
2019 and 2018, respectively	2	6
2018 and 2017, respectively	1	3
2017 and 2016, respectively	0	2
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	6	19
Finance Receivables | Customer | Latin America | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	2
2020 and 2019, respectively	18	14
2019 and 2018, respectively	11	11
2018 and 2017, respectively	11	24
2017 and 2016, respectively	6	5
Prior	8	4
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	54	60
Finance Receivables | Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	27	217
2020 and 2019, respectively	215	172
2019 and 2018, respectively	132	111
2018 and 2017, respectively	82	273
2017 and 2016, respectively	209	99
Prior	180	117
Revolving Finance Receivables	109	119
Total Finance Receivables	954	1,108
Finance Receivables | Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	0
2020 and 2019, respectively	0	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	6
2018 and 2017, respectively	0	0
2017 and 2016, respectively	0	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	0	6
Finance Receivables | Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	0
2020 and 2019, respectively	0	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	0
2018 and 2017, respectively	0	0
2017 and 2016, respectively	0	0
Prior	2	9
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	2	9
Finance Receivables | Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	2
2020 and 2019, respectively	2	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	20
2018 and 2017, respectively	20	3
2017 and 2016, respectively	3	25
Prior	69	79
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	94	$ 129
Finance Receivables | Dealer
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
Total Finance Receivables	$ 2,663		$ 3,383