I'm looking for a bit of reasonable advice about something not too terribly serious, so I posted it here instead of Tilted Living, if it needs moved, ok.
I have an online buddy who lives halfway across the country. I've met him on a couple occasions at some nationwide events we both happened to attend. We've hung out a bit in a group of mutual friends and he's a nice guy. We aren't terribly close, but we inhabit a couple of the same message boards, and work together on a few things with them. He is looking at making a major purchase of an item, and has asked if I would be willing to drive to check it out for him, if he decided to pursue it. The item is about 225 miles from my house, and he's offered to pay my gas and time. The drive would be about 4 hours with traffic, and I'd probably spend an hour there, maybe 90 minutes, checking things out, then return home. He wants someone that he trusts looking at it, and I'm probably the closest of our community that fits the bill. I'm completely willing to do this, and told him that, as long as it fits my schedule. It looks like it very well may be able to be done on a day I can do it without cancelling any plans or taking off of work.
My question is, how much is a reasonable amount to ask for "my time"? I would basically tell him what the gas cost would be, then a flat fee over that. I'm not looking to make a boatload of money on it, but if I do it, it will completly tie up a Saturday I could be spending doing whatever I wanted. Aside from gas, it is also putting nearly 500 miles on my car, I'll have to spend money on food, etc., which is not a huge issue, but a small factor nonetheless. I would probably bring my wife along for company, and just make a full day of it. I want to ask for enough that it's worthwhile, but little enough that it's still a "favor" more than a "job", as I do consider him a buddy. He will be making a fairly major financial decision based on my opinion, so it isn't a completely trivial matter either.
Thought? Opinions?