Is it worth it to go to small claims court for this?

I recently bought a used car and parked it in the space assigned to my house. I live in a townhouse community with a home owner’s association. The license plates and registration are expired, and I’ve been waiting on a copy of the title, which I just got today. Yesterday the HOA put a sticker on my car saying I needed to get new plates or the car would be towed.

There was no time frame on the sticker, so I e-mailed them asking how much time I had before the car would be towed and let them know that I was expecting the car title in the next several days. The response was that I had until this Sunday to get new license plates. I got the title in the mail today, and I was all set to go to the DMV tomorrow morning, but my car was towed tonight.

I plan on asking the towing company to waive my fee and the HOA to reimburse me- hey, it doesn’t hurt to ask, even if I only have a small chance. If that doesn’t work, it’s about $200; is it worth it to go to small claims court? Is an e-mail enough evidence? I know you’re not supposed to have expired plates, period, but this seems pretty unfair. My aunt called me at work this morning to tell me that the title came in the mail. If I had known that the deadline was actually today, I would have prioritized differently and left work early to take care of it, instead of waiting for my off day.

The car was towed off private property. I think that if I had parked on public property, I may have been ticketed, but probably not towed. Is this right? If you have any stories about towing or small claims court, it would really help me out.