Cat Financial Financing Activities (Details 2) (USD $)	6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Allowance for credit loss activity:
Balance at beginning of year	$ 362,000,000	$ 376,000,000
Provision for credit losses	82,000,000	205,000,000
Receivables written off	(97,000,000)	(288,000,000)
Recoveries on receivables previously written off	27,000,000	51,000,000
Adjustment due to sale of receivables	(1,000,000)
Foreign currency translation adjustment	6,000,000
Adjustment to adopt consolidation of variable-interest entities		18,000,000
Balance at end of year	379,000,000	362,000,000
Customer
Allowance for credit loss activity:
Balance at beginning of year	357,000,000
Provision for credit losses	81,000,000
Receivables written off	(97,000,000)
Recoveries on receivables previously written off	27,000,000
Adjustment due to sale of receivables	(1,000,000)
Foreign currency translation adjustment	6,000,000
Balance at end of year	373,000,000
Dealer
Allowance for credit loss activity:
Balance at beginning of year	5,000,000
Provision for credit losses	1,000,000
Balance at end of year	$ 6,000,000