Finance Receivables (Details 6) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($) contracts	Jun. 30, 2017 USD ($) contracts	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($) contracts	Jun. 30, 2017 USD ($) contracts	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)
Financing Receivable, Modifications
Remaining commitments	$ 0		$ 0		$ 0
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	19	73	37	103
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 57	$ 254	$ 98	$ 378
Post-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 24	$ 247	$ 65	$ 360
Customer \| North America
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	17	17	30	26
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 7	$ 8	$ 13	$ 9
Post-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 7	$ 7	$ 13	$ 8
Customer \| Europe
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	0	0	0	1
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Post-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Customer \| Asia/Pacific
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	0	1	0	6
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0	$ 39
Post-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0	$ 30
Customer \| Mining
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	0	0	1	2
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 0	$ 0	$ 29	$ 57
Post-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 0	$ 0	$ 29	$ 56
Customer \| Latin America
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	0	7	1	14
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 0	$ 3	$ 3	$ 5
Post-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 0	$ 3	$ 3	$ 5
Customer \| Caterpillar Power Finance
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	2	48	5	54
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 50	$ 243	$ 53	$ 268
Post-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 17	$ 237	$ 20	$ 261
Dealer
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	0	0	0	0
Caterpillar Purchased Receivables
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	0	0	0	0
Significant Amount of Amount Disclosed Represented by a Certain Number of Customers (Two) [Member] \| Customer \| Latin America
TDRs which had been modified within twelve months of the default date
Number of contracts \| contracts		240		240
Post-TDR Recorded Investment		$ 16		$ 16
Significant Amount of Amount Disclosed Represented by a Certain Number of Customers (Three) [Member] \| Customer \| Caterpillar Power Finance
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts		42
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment		$ 175
Post-TDR Recorded Investment		$ 175

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Loans and leases modified as TDRs within previous twelve months that subsequently defaulted

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Number of financing receivables that have been modified by troubled debt restructurings.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 33
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84173941&loc=SL6953676-111524

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Number of financing receivables that have been modified by troubled debt restructurings within the previous 12 months and for which there was a payment default.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 34
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84173941&loc=SL6953682-111524

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Amount of investment related to financing receivables modified by troubled debt restructurings within the previous 12 months, for which there was a payment default.

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Reflects the unfunded portion of contractual agreements to lend funds to borrowers for loans whose terms have been modified by troubled debt restructuring.

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Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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-Section 50
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