Had a minor fender bender, but I messed up and am on the hook for the premium. How bad is my situation?

Location: Queensland, Australia

About 4 weeks ago, I got into a minor fender bender.

I was turning right onto a 2-lane, 2-way main road that can get quite busy. Visibility is poor on both sides. The left side of the road bends, and there's only a short distance between the bend and where I was stationary. There's also a traffic light around the bend, so cars tend to come through this area pretty quickly, leaving you with limited time between gaps in traffic. The right side is also slightly obscured by a parking lane.

It was a Saturday afternoon in a trendy area, so the road was packed. The road I was stationary on is also on a slight hill and I drive a manual, so I have to give it a bit to get moving. I was watching both sides closely. I moved forward slightly and could see there were no cars coming from my right, so I had time to focus on the left and wait for a gap. When a gap finally opened, I pulled out, not like a speed demon, but with purpose while continuing to watch the traffic coming from the left. When I turned my attention back to the right, I saw a truck backing out of a driveway onto the main road I was turning into. He was backing out fairly quickly. I slammed on the brakes, but unfortunately hit the rear of his truck.

We both pulled into a nearby street, got out to make sure everyone was okay (we were), exchanged names and phone numbers, took photos of each other's cars and exchanged the necessary information.

This is where I made a mistake, but more on that later.

We exchanged licenses so we could photograph each other's details. I was pretty distracted because I'd just been in a freakin collision and also assessing the damage to my car. We called each other's numbers to make sure they were correct, which they were, and then went our separate ways.

I called my insurance company and explained what happened. They determined that the other driver was at fault because he was backing onto the main road and. According to them he should have given way to traffic already on the road. They told me that the other driver would be responsible for my excess.

My insurer arranged a repairer and a date for me to drop the car off. When I dropped it off, the repairer told me I needed to pay the $1,000 excess. I explained that my insurer had told me I wouldn't have to pay it. The repairer was cool, so they let me sort it out with the insurer while they repaired my car.

I then spoke to my insurance company, and this is where the problem started. They told me they needed the other driver's address so they could send him a recovery demand. Unfortunately, when we exchanged licence details, I had only taken a photo of the front of his licence, so I didn't have his address. I tried calling him about 10 times, but he kept ignoring my calls. I also texted him asking for his address, but he never replied.

When I picked up my now-repaired car, I had to pay the $1,000 excess.

The insurance company told me that in order to get that $1,000 back, I need to provide them with the other driver's address so they can pursue him. I've been scouring Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and even created an Instagram account trying to find this guy, but he seems to have no online presence.

My insurance company says there's not much more they can do. They can contact him a couple of times, but without an address they apparently can't pursue the recovery properly. They also couldn't give me a definitive answer about whether I'll eventually get my $1,000 back.

How bad is it? Should I cut my losses?