Finance Receivables (Details 8) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2020 USD ($) contracts	Sep. 30, 2019 USD ($) contracts	Sep. 30, 2020 USD ($) contracts	Sep. 30, 2019 USD ($) contracts
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts | contracts	105	8	271	55
Pre-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 76	$ 56	$ 149	$ 184
Post-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 76	$ 55	$ 149	$ 181
Customer
TDRs which had been modified within twelve months of the default date [Abstract]
Number of Contracts | contracts	4	0	10	0
Post-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 25	$ 0	$ 36	$ 0
Customer | North America
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts | contracts	3	4	13	12
Pre-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 1	$ 0	$ 10	$ 5
Post-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 1	$ 0	$ 10	$ 4
TDRs which had been modified within twelve months of the default date [Abstract]
Number of Contracts | contracts	1	0	2	0
Post-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 6	$ 0	$ 6	$ 0
Customer | EAME
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts | contracts			0	19
Pre-TDR Amortized Cost			$ 0	$ 17
Post-TDR Amortized Cost			$ 0	$ 17
TDRs which had been modified within twelve months of the default date [Abstract]
Number of Contracts | contracts			2	0
Post-TDR Amortized Cost			$ 10	$ 0
Customer | Asia/Pacific
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts | contracts	79	0	183	0
Pre-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 4	$ 0	$ 12	$ 0
Post-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 4	$ 0	$ 12	$ 0
Customer | Mining
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts | contracts	12	0	52	1
Pre-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 5	$ 0	$ 22	$ 6
Post-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 5	$ 0	$ 22	$ 6
TDRs which had been modified within twelve months of the default date [Abstract]
Number of Contracts | contracts	1	0	1	0
Post-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 1	$ 0	$ 1	$ 0
Customer | Latin America
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts | contracts	3	0	9	4
Pre-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 16	$ 0	$ 18	$ 2
Post-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 16	$ 0	$ 18	$ 2
TDRs which had been modified within twelve months of the default date [Abstract]
Number of Contracts | contracts			3	0
Post-TDR Amortized Cost			$ 1	$ 0
Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts | contracts	8	4	14	19
Pre-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 50	$ 56	$ 87	$ 154
Post-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 50	$ 55	$ 87	$ 152
TDRs which had been modified within twelve months of the default date [Abstract]
Number of Contracts | contracts	2	0	2	0
Post-TDR Amortized Cost	$ 18	$ 0	$ 18	$ 0
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 Three Customers | Customer | Mining
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts | contracts			52
Pre-TDR Amortized Cost			$ 22
Post-TDR Amortized Cost			$ 22
Significant Amount of Amount Disclosed Represented by Seven Customers | Customer | Asia/Pacific
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts | contracts			183
Pre-TDR Amortized Cost			$ 12
Post-TDR Amortized Cost			$ 12