To my mind, all this does is reinforce something that i already believe about the member request process for listing new cars.

** Prospective members don't know that the system exists, and just wonder why the car they are interested in isn't in the book.
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You brought up a lot of tough issues, but this one is an easy one. Put a little note at the bottom of each of the spec line pages saying, "If your car isn't listed, see section XXXX" or something. At least then it's where they are looking, instead of buried in the text.