[klayfish]

Cal,
Not a surprise at all. Insurance underwriters want to know exactly the risk they are taking when they write a policy. So when they quote a price on a Civic, unless told otherwise, they are believing that it is a factory stock Civic. They do not want to be involved with the "Fast and Furious" crowd, as they perceive it as a much higher risk category. Here in the States, in order to deny a claim after they have written the policy, they will have to have an exclusion in the policy clearly stating they have the right to do this. And the Department of Insurance in that state has to approve that exclusion.
We already run into similar situations with the import crowd now. They stick a Plymouth Superbird wing on the back, lights, etc... on their Civic. When it gets wrecked, NONE of that stuff is covered unless they have a specific endorsement on their policy to cover it. They policy only covers what comes on a showroom car. These kids don't read the policy and it becomes an ugly scene.

Steve