[Euro] A Performance Focus...

[Tobster]

Thats fair enough I guess, especially looking at it from their perspective.

Though an ECU upgrade is ok in their books right?

ECU "upgrade" is engine management -- doesn't matter if it's a new chip, reprogramming the old chip, or a stand alone or piggyback controller -- you're changing the way the engine works, generally for more power, which means (a) you're likely to be driving hard and fast (= risk) or (b) more likely to cook the engine or wear out components and make a claim.

You can go to any tuner and get them to tweak your engine at any time -- it doesn't mean to say that they know what they're doing. Something like Hondata is still just a matter of an aftermarket tuner playing with trial and error to see what works and what doesn't, and then bringing out a "these are our tested setting for the X-model". They aren't necessarily concerned about things that the factory have to pay attention to such as emissions or fuel consumption. That's not to say that there aren't some really good tuners out there...

Most insurance companies just don't like you playing with the engine CPU management.

If in doubt, ASK before you do anything!