Dealer isn't going to care what any other body shop thinks. Most dealerships have their own body shops anyway and repairs, if any, will be evaluated and completed in accordance with the vehicle warranty to the extent there is any.This can't hurt anything as well. Go to a reputable, independent body shop first. Get a formal written estimate from them, and explicitly ask the shop manager to write down their professional opinion on what caused it and whether it rotted from the inside out.
Take that official paperwork straight to the Ford dealership with you. When you have a professional body shop backing you up stating it's a structural failure/perforation issue, the dealer can't just casually brush you off and claim it's a regular old rock chip that caused the damage.
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