| **Allowance for Doubtful Accounts**            | 12 Months Ended                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
|------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
||
| **Allowance for Doubtful Accounts [Abstract]** |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| Allowance for Doubtful Accounts                | Allowance for doubtful accountsPursuant to the adoption of new accounting guidance relating to disclosures about the allowance for losses and credit quality of finance receivables, we determined that we have two portfolio segments of finance receivables based on the type of financing inherent to each portfolio. The retail portfolio segment represents loans or leases to end-users for the purchase or lease of vehicles. The wholesale portfolio segment represents loans to dealers to finance their inventory. As the initial measurement attributes and the monitoring and assessment of credit risk or the performance of the receivables are consistent within each of our receivable portfolios, the Company determined that each portfolio consisted of one class of receivable.The activity related to our allowance for doubtful accounts for our retail portfolio, wholesale portfolio, and trade and other receivables is summarized as follows: October 31, 2011 RetailPortfolio WholesalePortfolio Trade andOtherReceivables Total(in millions)       Allowance for doubtful accounts, at beginning of period$58 $2 $36 $96Provision for doubtful accounts, net of recoveries(5) — (1) (6)Charge-off of accounts(A)(22) — (18) (40)Allowance for doubtful accounts, at end of period$31 $2 $17 $50  As of October 31, 2010 RetailPortfolio WholesalePortfolio Trade andOtherReceivables Total(in millions)       Allowance for doubtful accounts, at beginning of period$58 $1 $45 $104Provision for doubtful accounts, net of recoveries26 1 2 29Charge-off of accounts(A)(26) — (11) (37)Allowance for doubtful accounts, at end of period$58 $2 $36 $96 As of October 31, 2009 RetailPortfolio WholesalePortfolio Trade andOtherReceivables Total(in millions)       Allowance for doubtful accounts, at beginning of period$47 $2 $64 $113Provision for doubtful accounts, net of recoveries39 1 10 50Charge-off of accounts(A)(28) (2) (29) (59)Allowance for doubtful accounts, at end of period$58 $1 $45 $104________________ (A)We repossess sold and leased vehicles on defaulted finance receivables and leases, and place them into Inventories. Losses recognized at the time of repossession and charged against the allowance for doubtful accounts were $20 million, $22 million, and $44 million in 2011, 2010, and 2009, respectively. The accrual of interest income is discontinued on certain impaired finance receivables. Impaired finance receivables include accounts with specific loss reserves and certain accounts that are on non-accrual status.  In certain cases, we continue to collect payments on our impaired finance receivables.Information regarding impaired finance receivables is as follows: As of October 31, 2011 As of October 31, 2010 RetailPortfolio WholesalePortfolio Total RetailPortfolio WholesalePortfolio Total(in millions)           Impaired finance receivables with specific loss reserves$15 $— $15 $49 $1 $50Impaired finance receivables without specific loss reserves2 — 2 1 — 1Specific loss reserves on impaired finance receivables10 — 10 23 — 23Finance receivables on non-accrual status14 — 14 50 1 51Average balance of impaired finance receivables for the period ended October 31, 201132 — 32 86 1 87The Company uses the aging of our receivables as well as other inputs when assessing credit quality. The aging analysis for finance receivables is summarized as follows: As of October 31, 2011 RetailPortfolio WholesalePortfolio Total(in millions)     Current$1,515 $1,328 $2,84330-90 days past due85 5 90Over 90 days past due13 1 14Total finance receivables$1,613 $1,334 $2,947 |

| X                                                                                                                                                                |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Details**Name:**nav_AllowanceForDoubtfulAccountsAbstract**Namespace Prefix:**nav_**Data Type:**xbrli:stringItemType**Balance Type:**na**Period Type:**duration |
| X                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Definition
Includes disclosure of allowances against amounts due to a company. Examples include allowance for doubtful trade accounts receivables, notes receivables, loans receivables.
+ References
No definition available.
+ Details**Name:**nav_AllowanceForLoansNotesTradeAndOtherReceivablesTextBlock**Namespace Prefix:**nav_**Data Type:**nonnum:textBlockItemType**Balance Type:**na**Period Type:**duration |