Hiring a car ain't so easy, perhaps

Have you got another licence? If you have, you should be able to hire a car using that....

Yes, you have to change your details on your licence when you move, or change your name and the UK licence has to be renewed every ten years. Unless you have the old style (as said above) and then if you don't move, you can drive on that until you're 70.

A friend of mine recently had to change his old style licence, after moving from a home he'd lived in for 30 years. He had to send his passport and some other ID to Swansea to get a new licence.

If your UK licence is of the modern variety and is more than ten years old, it is now invalid (as my son who lives in Oz found out as he can now only drive here for a year before having to re-take his test). But as I said, you can also drive here for a year on a foreign licence and therefore should be able to hire a car on yours, if you have one. You probably shouldn't be driving in Germany (if that's where you live) on your UK one as they probably have a similar law (as does, for example, so does Australia).

Europcar (UK) often ask for 2 proofs of present address when hiring a commercial vehicle (Transit etc.).

If you don't live in the UK, they will accept your (foreign) home address and a valid licence.

A number of issues have arisen here. Argus Car Hires conditions state that two documents bearing the same address as the driving licence must be produced, and that one of these, depending on which part of the carelessly produced document you look at, must/should be a utility bill.
I suggest that the person/persons who produced the list of conditions were thinking within a "British-centric" box. (They considered only the format of a BRITISH driving licence (on which an ADDRESS is written) They require a utility bill (written in ENGLISH, presumably, unless someone fortunate enough to live elsewhere than in Britain carries with them a notarised translation of one of their utility bills!!!) and not only a utility bill but one showing name and address details that correspond to the name and address on the driving licence.
It seems to me that few, perhaps, of those flying INTO a British airport and OUT of the same airport would be people permanently residing at an address in Britain which is the same as that shown on their driving licence AND for which they have a utility bill in that same name. (What, for example, of a person with a driving licence fully in British-style order -which includes living at the address shown on it- but whose utility bills are in the name of his/her wife/husband/partner? No car from this company! As for the foreign visitor, hardly a cat in hell's chance! How many people who are living at the address shown on their dr. licence AND have a utility bill to match, would be likely to want to rent a car in Britain, then drop it off before flying out again.? The people who need cars are mainly tourists/other visitors who are hardly likely to fulfil these hiring conditions.
The company seems to be reducing their potential customer base to a small or even tiny fraction of what it might otherwise be. "They can hire to whom they wish", I hear someone say. I absolutely agree.

*If you don't live in the UK, they will accept your (foreign) home address and a valid licence.

*
Not according to their conditions, I understand. They want a utility bill showing the same address as the licence.
I have an old-style UK paper licence, issued in 1976 and not amended or updated since then, and another licence, in Arabic and English, showing place and date of issue, date of expiry, my photo (as in my passport) and name (as in my passport). There's no address on the licence. I have no utility bills from that country and if I did, they'd be (1) in Arabic (2) without my name (3) out-of-date.
In Germany I don't receive utility bills and if I did, they wouldn't match the address that in any case isn't on the driving licence I've just mentioned!
This car hire company wants a utility bill with the same name and address on it as my driving licence!
I would have thought that a valid driving licence with my name and photo on it (both as per my passport) together with my passport and a current, verifiable credit card would be enough, but what I think isn't the same as what the person who wrote Argus' conditions thinks (and matters not an iota).

When you turn up to Luton Airport or wherever to collect the car, it is not Argus Car Hire you meet, rather you turn up to the specified car hire firm that Argus Car Hire as agent have purchased a deal for you. So it isn't Argus who are going to be looking at these proofs, because they aren't there to do so, and they will sell you the voucher without ever looking at them - they are merely advising you that you need these proofs in order to collect the car from the car hire company. I would imagine therefore that these conditions are conditions that have been imposed on Argus by the car rental company, not Argus's own conditions, and may well be a method by which the car hire company only sells at these supercheap prices through the agent only to customers who can be bothered meeting these tedious conditions. They may also be a method by which the car hire company can look at the voucher and find that there are various surcharges that they must now apply, because that seems to happen a lot when you go through an agent.

"How many people who are living at the address shown on their dr. licence AND have a utility bill to match, would be likely to want to rent a car in Britain, then drop it off before flying out again.? The people who need cars are mainly tourists/other visitors who are hardly likely to fulfil these hiring conditions."

Honestly, I think more than you think, and those who don't fit those conditions are likely to regarded as high risk customers. They want to be sure they can get their money if you damage or steal the car - and that it really is your credit card not someone else's. Also if your licence is invalid (and with an address 37 years out of date I rather think the DVLA would say it is, sorry) so would the insurance be. They care more about those risks than about losing custom of a high-risk and (imo) small group of potential customers.

All EU driving licences have addresses; I can't answer for other countries but I would suspect not having one is more unusual than the reverse. IMO most people who can afford holidays and car hire are likely to have their name on their gas bill or internet provider or similar; if they live with a partner who pays for everything, I expect they think partner is likely to be going on the trip too and will be responsible for the car hire themselves.

You should be able to get a German licence. For the additional evidence of address, is there nothing you pay for yourself for which a bill is sent to you? Could you ask the company if a bank statement would be acceptable? Rental agreement with your name on it? I doubt it needs to be in English as long as it's an obvious address; the Arabic situation is a non starter as you're not resident there anyway and as that one's sans address, it might not acceptable to the car hire company even with an IDP.

Maybe a company which wants a big deposit up front would be more relaxed about these things.

BTW, if your licence is 37 years old wouldn't it be pre-photograph requirements?

It seems this is more personal than normal.

My children live in Oz, and have Australian licences - one only has an Aussie one, one has both, one had a UK licence, now expired. When they come home, they have all hired cars and all they needed was their Australian driving licence and one other form of ID so they used their passports.

I think it's more difficult for you because of the 37 year old licence. You can get an international driving licence, which is simply a translation of one not written in English, which is accepted as proof to drive in this country. Thousands of tourists hire cars here and I've never heard it being made so complicated, so it can only be that something has been flagged up and they are being more cautious.

This car hire company wants a utility bill with the same name and address on it as my driving licence!
I would have thought that a valid driving licence with my name and photo on it (both as per my passport) together with my passport and a current, verifiable credit card would be enough, but what I think isn't the same as what the person who wrote Argus' conditions thinks.

But having established that you cant comply with their stupid Ts&Cs, why are still stressing about what Argus do or don't need? Vote with your feet, and make a booking direct with a rental company that doesn't impose these unnecessary requirements.

Sorry - maybe I was being obtuse above.

Is this a query about a booking you intend to make, or have you already made the booking and now you've become aware that you cant meet the conditions? If the latter is the case, then I'd recommend contacting the car provider direct - get them to confirm in writing what paperwork they require from you.