Finance receivables (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended																							0 Months Ended
	Jul. 31, 2012 segments		Oct. 31, 2011		Jul. 31, 2012 Financial Services [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Financial Services [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 TRAC Funding Facility [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 TRAC Funding Facility [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Retail [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Retail [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Wholesale [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Wholesale [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Wholesale [Member] Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary [Member] Financial Services [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Wholesale [Member] Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary [Member] Financial Services [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Wholesale [Member] Variable Funding Notes [Member] Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary [Member] Financial Services [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Wholesale [Member] Variable Funding Notes [Member] Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary [Member] Financial Services [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Wholesale [Member] Investor Notes, Maturing October 2012 [Member] Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary [Member] Financial Services [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Wholesale [Member] Investor Notes, Maturing October 2012 [Member] Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary [Member] Financial Services [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Wholesale [Member] Investor Notes, Maturing October 2016 [Member] Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary [Member] Financial Services [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Wholesale [Member] Investor Notes, Maturing October 2016 [Member] Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary [Member] Financial Services [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Wholesale [Member] Investor Notes, Maturing January 2012 [Member] Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary [Member] Financial Services [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Wholesale [Member] Investor Notes, Maturing January 2012 [Member] Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary [Member] Financial Services [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Borrowings Secured By Operating and Finance Leases [Member] TRAC Funding Facility [Member] Financial Services [Member]	Nov. 02, 2011 Navistar Financial Retail Receivables Corporation [Member] Financial Services [Member]
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment [Line Items]
On-balance sheet assets, net of intercompany balances					$ 2,900,000,000	$ 3,500,000,000
Financing receivable, by class, number of portfolio segments	2
Loans and Leases Receivable, Gross, Carrying Amount, Covered	2,363,000,000		2,947,000,000						1,188,000,000	1,613,000,000	1,175,000,000	1,334,000,000
Less: Allowance for doubtful accounts	28,000,000		34,000,000
Finance receivables, net	2,335,000,000		2,913,000,000
Less: Current portion, net	1,812,000,000	[1]	2,198,000,000	[1]
Noncurrent portion, net	523,000,000		715,000,000
Facility													1,074,000,000	1,100,000,000	500,000,000	500,000,000	350,000,000	350,000,000	224,000,000	0	0	250,000,000	125,000,000
Unutilized funding							85,000,000	9,000,000							320,000,000	170,000,000
Proceeds from Issuance of Senior Long-term Debt																								224,000,000
Funding facility collateral, retail accounts							123,000,000	174,000,000
Funding facility collateral, cash equivalents							$ 35,000,000	$ 33,000,000

[1] The current portion of finance receivables is computed based on contractual maturities. Actual cash collections typically vary from the contractual cash flows because of prepayments, extensions, delinquencies, credit losses, and renewals