Towing Issues: Towing question, tow company, police impounds

Question
Hello,

My sister and I rent a condo in California that requires a parking permit to park inside.  They have patrol company that I assume has authorization to initiate a tow I have a valid permit, but my sister made a duplicate of it. I didn't like the idea of her using a fraudulent permit but I figured it was on her if her car got towed.

Well anyway, this morning we woke to find that both of our cars had been towed. I am not contesting that her car should've been towed, but what about mine? Besides the fact that mine is actually valid, there seems to be some other problems.

#1 The signs that are hanging up do not have a valid phone number on them.

#2 The tow company did not want to give me the authorization they got to tow, after asking several times and showing him the vehicle code, he finally gave me copy of one. The authorization does not seem to have all the required information and the actual reason that was checked off by hand on the copy was "Invalid Permit -Per HOA"

So, do you think I have grounds for disputing the tow? My parking permit is an original, valid permit.


Also, in my sister's case, I was going to pay for her fines on my credit card, but they would not let me pay for her fines with credit so I had to go to the bank to get cash for her. The vehicle code states that the tow company needs to accept a valid credit card from the "registered owner, legal owner, or the owner's agent claiming the vehicle"  My question is should I have been allowed to pay her fines? We were both present, what would qualify someone as the Owner's Agent?  

Answer
You are correct. Your vehicle should not have been towed. If the reason stated was invalid permit they illegally towed your vehicle. I am pretty sure the part about them taking credit cards applies to private property impounds as well as police impounds but I would make sure. As for the agent that does not make a bit of difference if your sister was present.