Towing Issues: Contract Towing, company cruises, rear view mirror

Question
We live in a Town Home community in Calif. The owners have one parking pass per town home which they must pay for.  It is usually hung on the rear view mirror.  My husband's is so old it broke and he now leaves it on the dash. Last night it had fallen off the dash and being dark he did not notice.  This morning his car was towed.  The tow company is about 2o miles away.  When I asked who signed to have it towed the tow driver said it was either the manager or security guard.  The manager is not there after 5:00 and there is no security guards.  They said they have a contract with the management.  They charged $231 for him to get his car.  I asked what the town home association was getting out of the tows and he told me he did not know what their kick back was.  This tow company cruises the parking lots numerous times daily. There is one person that has been seen checking the windows for parking passes that was with the towing company.  When she found one with out a pass she would call the tow truck driver over to tow. Is this legal?

Answer
Well, as far as I know that California has the most restrictive towing regulations around, but some other places come close..

Now from what it sounds like it was a gray area tow..  First of all if they are using a spotter who does the complexes several times a day over a period of time they would know the cars and if they were to be there.. (this is my thought here)

Now they might say that the security guard is there, and they can consider the "spotter" a guard..
I would see what the association does with this and it would be a good idea to talk to they more.  After all if they do tow vehicles without permits, and they issue permits (or replace them) they have a say in this matter..

The price is about right for what I know of rates there, and as far as I know they should not be doing kickbacks... They are illegal according to the law..

If you really want to check out the laws, (and have a lot of time to read) you can check out the California DMV website.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/vc.htm

I know its not a lot of help but this question has so many things that can be affecting it. Sorry I can not provide more information...