Towing Issues: towing fee, prime commercial areas, mileage charges

Question
I was visiting a friend this past sat who lives in a apartment complex.    I parked my car in the parking lot at the apartments.  There are signs there from a towing company, but they  do not say parking for residents only.  When i was getting ready to leave Sunday morning, my car was gone.   It had been towed the night before.  My fee to get it back was 415.00 dollars. Plus tax. There was a towing  fee, storage fee, and late pick up fee.  The car was there for about 12 hours. How can they charge so much!!!!!I think it is criminal behavior.  I had to borrow money from my friend.  And can not pay my rent this week due to this.I live 2 hours away from where i was and needed my car to get back home and go to work.  Please respond to this.  thank you.  Frida

Answer
Well first of all the tow company generally is called via the management of the apartment complex to remove vehicles which are deemed illegally parked. So that is where to look for who called in the order to have it towed. Now in some states (you did not say where this happened) the tow trucks can "cruise - patrol" the parking lots looking for violations. This might of happened also.

Now as to signs, I am sorry that it did meet what you think that it should say. Of course they can go into great details as required by laws of your city or state (There goes that lack of information again affecting the answer)

Now the rates do seem high, but in line with what I know about towing in some locations.
Yes there will be a tow fee and even a dolly fee allowed to get your vehicle to the yard safely and there will be mileage charges also. But then again other areas are regulated to hourly rates to do the job.

Now storage is charged for each vehicle which goes into the storage yard. It can be figured out via daily rates based on either calendar day or physical time the vehicle is in the yard.
Property is not cheap and tow company yards are in prime commercial areas.

Now the late pick up fee, which is standard for anytime that a vehicle is released other then normal business hours. Tow companies are a 24 hour business which has normal office hours, which are generally Monday - Friday 8AM to 5PM or maybe 6PM. After that they have to call someone in to do the paperwork, open the gate and take payment.
I do not know what you do for a living, but would you work for free on Sunday morning and listen to people complain ???  I doubt it.

Criminal behavior?  Really, lets see about the facts. The tow company did not park the vehicle in the lot against any rules or regulations of the property, and you are the person who "TECHNICALLY TRESPASSED" upon the rights of the property owner or person assigned the space.

Now your friend that lives there should know the rules and regulations and should of told you where to part or what to do. They are supposed to be the people in the know.

Sorry for your vehicle being towed, but it happens a lot due to predatory parking.