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Interim Financial Statements (Details)	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2016 brand stores franchises
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Percentage of new vehicle sales from core brands	94.00%
Number of brands | brand	35
Number of stores | stores	261
Owned and operated new vehicle franchises | franchises	371

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

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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