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Interim Financial Statements (Details)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2015 franchises brand stores
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Owned and operated new vehicle franchises	282an_OwnedAndOperatedNewVehicleFranchises
Number of stores	232us-gaap_NumberOfStores
Number of brands	34an_NumberOfBrands
Percentage of new vehicle sales from core brands	95.00%an_PercentageOfNewVehicleSalesCoreBrands

X

- Definition

The number of new vehicle brands sold by the company's stores.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	an_NumberOfBrands
Namespace Prefix:	an_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

Represents the number of owned and operated new vehicle franchises.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	an_OwnedAndOperatedNewVehicleFranchises
Namespace Prefix:	an_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

The percentage of new vehicles sold that represent the core brands of new vehicles sold by the company.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	an_PercentageOfNewVehicleSalesCoreBrands
Namespace Prefix:	an_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Represents the number of stores.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_NumberOfStores
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_OrganizationConsolidationAndPresentationOfFinancialStatementsAbstract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration