transferring car registration - now 2 visits?

just transferred my registration to a friend last week and found that things had changed at the stx department of motor vehicles. i had the notorized registration and title going into my friends name, and thought it would be one visit. we got the car inspected, no problem, but the inspector said i should have waited in my car, not gotten out and waited in the line at the inspection booth. still went smoothly though. got inside and turned in my plate with my scraped off sticker and got the old registration stamped with "insurance cancelled". i thought everything was going smoothly until i asked for a copy of the old registration so that i could get my insurance cancelled. Well that brought everything to a grinding halt and they said that my friend couldn't get the car registered until i got proof from my insurance company that the insurance was cancelled. now the insurance company won't cancel the insurance until they see the registration with the "insurance cancelled " stamp on it because that means the plates and sticker have been turned in. so i asked how i was supposed to get to the insurance company and they said i'd have to get 2 special permits at $5 apiece, one to go there, and one to come back, but being a friday afternoon, i would have to come back on monday.
i've bought 2 cars in the last couple of months and never had this situation before, so i asked if i could talk to a supervisor. big mistake, she said that was the rules, and then proceeded to chew me out for waiting to the end of the month to transfer the ownership because that was the busy time.
i was lucky though because one of the girls in the back appeared to be efficient and knowledgeable, and when she stuck her head out the door, i told her what i was being asked to do, and she said she would take care of it. so after waiting an hour or so, we got everything we wanted. another couple that i knew, did make the trip back to their insurance company and followed the rules of the first woman. it just seems silly. if you have the registration with the stamp on it that says "insurance cancelled", then i think the insurance is really cancelled. you can send that registration to the insurance company 2 months later, and they will give you a refund of your premium based on the date of the stamp, not the date you send it to them. just thought i'd pass along this experience that ended well for me, but did raise my stress level just a little.