Towing Issues: Illegal towing???, utter amazement, tow company

Question
So a couple months ago I had my car towed from my boyfriend's apartment complex. I lived there too but my name was not on the lease so I can not prove that I was a resident. I was not parked in a marked spot, I was in the guest parking area. My car had broken down so it hadn't moved in a few months. Then one day I came home to find the notice on my window saying that my car was not properly marked or something along those lines and was illegally parked. Now I know that my boyfriend is allowed 2 cars but only given one covered spot. So he can claim my car as his second, so in my mind it was not illegally parked. To avoid it being towed, we put a new battery in the car and moved it around the complex everyday to prove that it ran. I couldn't drive it any further then around the parking lot because it would just break down. About 2 weeks after the notice, I came home to find my car had been towed. I called and found out it had only been about an hour since they towed it, so I went to go pay for it. To my utter amazement, the fee was over $250 because they had impounded my car. When I asked why, the tow company said it was because my tags were expired. So my question is now that I get to pay the fee that is over $1000 now because I couldn't afford to pay the original fee and they auctioned my car off, is that a reason to tow my car? Can the apartment complex legally do that?

Thanks

Jessica

Answer
Well from what it sounds here, you were in violation of the lease agreement in several areas...

First of all, by you not being on the lease you have no rights for parking. It's also a safety issue there (not able to identify the people in the unit for safety and legal reasons..

That being said, ok now the car did not run and had expired tags (or something like that you described).. Then you played the classic game,  shuffle the car around the lot and do not take care of the major issue,  EXPIRED TAGS.

Ok can the apartment legally tow off a vehicle with expired tags, well yes they can and usually do that. Can you imagine how many vehicles would be there if they did not tow off expired tagged vehicles which could be vehicles abandoned by previous tenants?

Now as to the fees, again I have no idea of where you were, so that does not help with answers, but as a standard rule tow companies do charge for the services they provide. Yes parking violations on private property do cost more for the service than when you breakdown and need a tow...
Why you ask, well the high amount of vehicles which are never picked up (loss leader type of thing here) and as such are auctioned off for what ever they can get for the salvage value of the vehicle.  

Legal reasons to tow vehicles can be expired tags, flat tires, wrecked vehicles and then you have the parked in fire lanes, parked in 2 spaces, parked in a non parking space or any other reason that is spelled out in the lease agreement.

I am sure that you really wanted to redeem the vehicle, but did you tell the tow company that..  And what were you going to do with the vehicle as it had expired tags and did not run. Take it back to the apartment complex where it was towed from?

I am sorry they sold the vehicle, but you should of got a certified letter stating it was going to be sold (oh yeah was it registered in your name?)

But again without knowing the state or city I can not point you in the right direction about specific legal actions that were taken or that you had available to you.