If you read the general internet it's all mobbed up guys stealing cars from law-abiding single mothers for no reason at all but then again if I believed the general public about parking violation enforcement here in germany I'd come to the conclusion they're the new jews.
So how bad is that whole privatized towing / enforcement thing, really? Is there an actual problem beyond "it's a private company" or is it mostly carbrain tears?
I had both my car and my wife's car towed in a single night from a private apt complex parking lot because I was too lazy to put my new registration stickers on. Both cars were up to date, just behind on the sticker application. I thankfully woke up and chased them down and was able to pay a "cheaper" unhook fee, aka a bribe for them not to drag our cars to a lot an hour away.
After that my wife's car needed some transmission lines replaced.
They only come on the last day of the month past midnight too, so they're not really doing anything for illegal parking.
I once saw a single mom with 3 kids return to the empty spot where her van was parked at like 11 in the night and had to go down and give her the tow company info. Its just a racket in most places. It makes sense in cities to clear out illegal parking that is legit dangerous, ie fire lanes, fire hydrants, limited street parking, etc. But when they're contracted with a private property, its almost always corrupt.
I read this story of a tow company near DC that is entirely in bed with the local government. They illegally tow legally parked cars all the time, fuck up cars, extort people, etc and never get more than a slap on the wrist. Just another mechanism where having money makes you exempt from laws.